NitsTue 9 Mar – Yoshimi, St. Polaroid, Sub071, Leiden.
After months Coach Bertels decided to visit the Black Tower, lured by the event alert on Last.fm. It said St.Polaroid and Yoshimi!, two Dutch bands with a beautiful future in music? It was for Coach and a few other visitors to decide. As Bertels arrived at the scene, the little room was already filled, with the bands, that is. Three Polaroids and six Yoshimi’s. Plus Three Sub071 crewmembers and finally two and a half paying visitors (according to Leon who had a peak at the financials). Dickies told Coach what had happened, and what Coach missed out on during the last period. Johnny explained his job as reviewer for magazines and that he has to cope with tons of CD’s that pile up and collapse all the time. Besides that, he makes art in the form of drawings and all. For all Coach knows, this fellow knows a lot about music and particularly British style stuff. Dickies showed Bertels the leaking gas burner and went up the stairs with a pile of dirty plates and macaroni leftovers. After a while he returned and saw no extra visitors. So the green light was on and the first band kicked off. Two brothers and a sister form St. Polaroid, one brother singing and playing a guitar, the other brother doing electronic guitar, very noisy little toy organ and xylophone, the drummer boy was introduced as the sister, which he seemed to enjoy. The minute they started their set list, it was clear that this band operated on an amateur level, some folks in the audience dared to speak of a kid’s party gig. It just lacked a huge amount of passion! The band members were kind of shy and there were lots of miscommunications. “Dreaming of shopping malls” and the song that ended up in some CD compilation were the best in the set. During the break, lots of stuff and instruments were dragged from one place to another as bands changed places on the stage. Next was Yoshimi, four tall young guys with guitars, synths, drums, bottles, trumpet, and a whole lot of strange percussion stuff. They had one girl as assistant, constantly handing over instruments and singing one song. Another girl was filming the whole show, which was.....Great! Very energetic music with lots of passion and very well organized. Funny lyrics in English and some in Dutch, which made it sound a bit like Spinvis. Bertels immediately linked their energetic music to the very first years of The Nits, that sound, that youth like energy and tunes made Coach travel back in time to the year 1974, a year before poor Bertels was even born! But now he stood there and witnessed their first gig! Wow, what a feeling! These Yoshimi dudes looked like the cartoon characters of the Gorillaz, and they rock like hell! During one particular song the keys dude picked a strange looking percussion instrument every ten seconds and used it to fit in the rhythm, very funny to watch and see what came out of the box. Johnny mentioned The Bonzo Dog Band or Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and indeed it sounded like that during some songs, especially the last one, ending with a crazy trumpet. Just loved it! After the show Coach asked for the CD and the front dude claimed that he had made the CD all by himself, playing every instrument apart, all the singing and background vocals apart, layer by layer. Bertels was astonished, if it sounds just like the live thing, this dude must be brilliant! And sure enough, the very next day Coach listened to the CD and found the same vibe as Yoshimi! Showed on stage.... A prosperous future is meant to be, Yoshimi! All night Leon was walking around with a fluffy monkey in his coat pocket, and at the end of the evening there was suddenly also a fluffy rabbit in there! It had something to do with the dog, Leon watches over. Then he told a typical Leon story; he was at the OCCI the other night attending some kind of lottery, and he won a couch, to sleep on in the streets! But this was a prize he could never move in public transportation, so he changed it for another number and won a horse-riding cap along with a plastic toy police car. As he stepped in the tram wearing the cap and holding the police car toy, the driver said that he could travel free of charge for the occasion! Then there was another story about a certain mister K.Bouter, who was made up for online buying purposes and never to pay practices. It was a swell evening with good music! Just another great night at the Black Tower.
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After months Coach Bertels decided to visit the Black Tower, lured by the event alert on Last.fm. It said St.Polaroid and Yoshimi!, two Dutch bands with a beautiful future in music? It was for Coach and a few other visitors to decide. As Bertels arrived at the scene, the little room was already filled, with the bands, that is. Three Polaroids and six Yoshimi’s. Plus Three Sub071 crewmembers and finally two and a half paying visitors (according to Leon who had a peak at the financials). Dickies told Coach what had happened, and what Coach missed out on during the last period. Johnny explained his job as reviewer for magazines and that he has to cope with tons of CD’s that pile up and collapse all the time. Besides that, he makes art in the form of drawings and all. For all Coach knows, this fellow knows a lot about music and particularly British style stuff. Dickies showed Bertels the leaking gas burner and went up the stairs with a pile of dirty plates and macaroni leftovers. After a while he returned and saw no extra visitors. So the green light was on and the first band kicked off. Two brothers and a sister form St. Polaroid, one brother singing and playing a guitar, the other brother doing electronic guitar, very noisy little toy organ and xylophone, the drummer boy was introduced as the sister, which he seemed to enjoy. The minute they started their set list, it was clear that this band operated on an amateur level, some folks in the audience dared to speak of a kid’s party gig. It just lacked a huge amount of passion! The band members were kind of shy and there were lots of miscommunications. “Dreaming of shopping malls” and the song that ended up in some CD compilation were the best in the set. During the break, lots of stuff and instruments were dragged from one place to another as bands changed places on the stage. Next was Yoshimi, four tall young guys with guitars, synths, drums, bottles, trumpet, and a whole lot of strange percussion stuff. They had one girl as assistant, constantly handing over instruments and singing one song. Another girl was filming the whole show, which was.....Great! Very energetic music with lots of passion and very well organized. Funny lyrics in English and some in Dutch, which made it sound a bit like Spinvis. Bertels immediately linked their energetic music to the very first years of The Nits, that sound, that youth like energy and tunes made Coach travel back in time to the year 1974, a year before poor Bertels was even born! But now he stood there and witnessed their first gig! Wow, what a feeling! These Yoshimi dudes looked like the cartoon characters of the Gorillaz, and they rock like hell! During one particular song the keys dude picked a strange looking percussion instrument every ten seconds and used it to fit in the rhythm, very funny to watch and see what came out of the box. Johnny mentioned The Bonzo Dog Band or Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and indeed it sounded like that during some songs, especially the last one, ending with a crazy trumpet. Just loved it! After the show Coach asked for the CD and the front dude claimed that he had made the CD all by himself, playing every instrument apart, all the singing and background vocals apart, layer by layer. Bertels was astonished, if it sounds just like the live thing, this dude must be brilliant! And sure enough, the very next day Coach listened to the CD and found the same vibe as Yoshimi! Showed on stage.... A prosperous future is meant to be, Yoshimi! All night Leon was walking around with a fluffy monkey in his coat pocket, and at the end of the evening there was suddenly also a fluffy rabbit in there! It had something to do with the dog, Leon watches over. Then he told a typical Leon story; he was at the OCCI the other night attending some kind of lottery, and he won a couch, to sleep on in the streets! But this was a prize he could never move in public transportation, so he changed it for another number and won a horse-riding cap along with a plastic toy police car. As he stepped in the tram wearing the cap and holding the police car toy, the driver said that he could travel free of charge for the occasion! Then there was another story about a certain mister K.Bouter, who was made up for online buying purposes and never to pay practices. It was a swell evening with good music! Just another great night at the Black Tower.
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