Radar Belfast w/Dutch Schultz

By Brian Coney

The first of Dutch Schultz’s somewhat questionable support acts tonight, Oregon-born, Belfast-based rapper Brendan Seamus aka BeeMickSee plays to an almost exclusively disinterested handful just after 10pm.

Despite admirable, enthusiastic efforts on highlights such as recent singles ‘I’m Weak’ and the altogether catchy ‘Laryngitis’, BeeMickSee’s own admission that the silence that follows most of his songs tonight is “embarrassing” only serves to support the theory that there is no marked interest in Northern Irish rap, namely the generally unfunny “funny” brand this young performer faithfully extols. Will it ever catch on?

Also struggling to win over tonight’s altogether negligible turn-out, synth-rock three-piece the Big Grizzly give it everything they’ve got over the course of several songs including the interestingly-titled ‘Dodi’s Chauffeur’ and an outright highlight the vaguely Weezer-esque ‘Fist F***’.

With flashes of brilliantly bastardised synth lines and caustic riffs, their otherwise energetic set suffers as much as a result of poor sound (you could just barely hear the guitar) as it does the noted lack of attendance.

All things considered, it was a little too premature for The Big Grizzly to be playing Radar.

With new guitarist Ryan O’Neill in tow – easily a stand-out musician amongst the three bands tonight – the return of Dutch Schultz as tonight’s headliners feels like a completely different prospect altogether – and nowhere is that more evident than in the unexpected melange of beaming faces that suddenly congregate at the front of the stage following the band’s altogether question choice of walk-on music: the Jim’ll Fix It theme (at least a month ago it would have been topical).

With a new album, the fantastic Tonight We Hunt to dip into, the band proves punchy, aggressive and compelling from the word go.

Despite a few too many suggestions we check out the merch stall afterwards, Dutch Schultz’s brand of extremely tight, harmonically vitriolic punk rock strikes a keen balance between riffmasters LaFaro, Fighting With Wire and the recently disbanded In Case Of Fire, whilst retaining the impact of their influences in the Jesus Lizard and Helmet.

If they carry on in this way, there’s no saying how far the band can go – here’s just hoping they’re given better support – and even better support acts – if they grace Radar again.

Dutch Schultz played Radar on Thursday 06 December.