No Spill Blood/TCBOO/Tied To Machines

By Iain Todd

Belfast’s Voodoo on Fountain Street is still a relatively young addition to the city’s landscape of bars and venues, but nevertheless seems to be building a cult following among – and I hesitate before writing this – the alternative crowd.

It is to all intents and purposes a fairly regular pub/venue style bar. The building was, after all, previously home to Copperfields, a low-key, ‘old-man’ style saloon. The downstairs bar is as it always was; wood, tables, chairs, back bar etc. While upstairs holds the venue; dimly lit and walls adorned with trippy graffiti.

On a rainy, windy Thursday night, Voodoo is playing host to Dublin’s No Spill Blood; fresh off the back of their latest record, Street Meat. Offering support are Belfast’s very own Tied to Machines and The Continuous Battle of Order, one half of which consists of everyone’s favourite editor; Monsieur Hornby of Big List fame.

Tie to Machines begin the evening with a set of tight, intricate post-hardcore; think At The Drive In meets LaFaro meets Minor Threat. Particularly admirable during the breakdowns, TTM pull off the hardcore sound with energy and confidence. Later, Hornby will remark how local bands are, generally speaking, a lot tighter now than they seem to have been maybe ten or fifteen years ago. He’s right, and a band as close-knit as TTM are a fine example of the current quality within the local scene.

What doesn’t work so well, perhaps, is the occasional attempt at melody. It is almost a foray into the pop-punk, emo side of things - and nobody wants that.

To concentrate on that would be an injustice, however, and TTM might best be described as a group of individuals playing in harmony. Each instrument can be heard in its own right, which when you’re dealing with live punk/hardcore, is in itself half the struggle.

The Continous Battle of Order are up next. Having heard they were a two piece - guitar and drums - I am anticipating something perhaps not too far from No Means No, but what emerges instead is highly-orchestrated blend of echoes, repeated motifs, jazz time signatures and double-tapping solos. Their sound is almost oxymoronic; at once the free flow improv. of jazz and bebop, while at the same time the skull splitting riffage of progressive thrash.

Unfortunately, I feel obliged to hold back on just how good TCBOO actually are, as chances are I might be accused of unprofessional bias. Don’t take my word for it; have a listen for yourselves and see what I mean.

No Spill Blood close the night with their industrialist mix of chunky bass riffs and gothic, synthesised melodies. They aren’t actually too far off what Ministry were doing around thirty years ago; the repetitive, rasping vocals and dirty great big bass riffs giving the whole sound a dance edge to it. It works well, and I can’t help but agree with the group of youngsters at the front who begin to head bang. “Were I eight years younger and drunk”, I think to myself, “I would probably be doing exactly the same thing”.

Perhaps one of the most refreshing things about NSB is that they look like ordinary guys. Checked shirts and beards, they could easily be a folk band. For NSB, it is most definitely not about the visual gimmicks and clearly all about the music, which speaks for itself: angry and energetic, heavy, dissonant and melodic.

Kudos must go especially to Lar Kaye on drums, who holds the group together with skill and precision. The snapping snare and pounding bass drum moves NSB further into the ‘rock’ category, as generic and lazy as that label may be. A drum machine would easily fit in with their sound, but the use of a full kit keeps it organic.

NSB are a band, and it seems to me that part of their charm lies within their ability to create punishing electronic music, yet appear onstage as thought they were any other average rock ‘n’ roll group.

I have heard NSB described as ‘synth-punk’, and this oxymoron befits their sound and style perfectly.

The set concludes with the blistering No Retreat; track two on Street Meat. A pounding, thrashing noise of synths and funky bass riffs, this track, to me, sums up No Spill’s sound perfectly, and makes for a great set-closer.

I find the similarities with Ministry unavoidable, but this by no means to say they haven’t developed their own unique sound and style. NSB are to be commended for being both diverse and, well, different.

As far as I can tell, being different was the unspoken agenda for all tonight’s bands, and if this is the type of thing Voodoo will be putting on on a regular basis, we can take their position within Belfast’s ever changing live music scene as well and truly cemented.