Chris Corsano + Mick Flower / The Giblets / Chora - Cricketers Arms, Sheffield, 8th Dec 06. (Architects of Harmonic Rooms).

My first time ever in this boozer which is literally overshadowed by United's North Stand and has a vibe (downstairs anyway) uncannily like the pub in Ch4's 'Shameless'. Upstairs it's a different story as it reminds me of the proper underground venues I used to visit in 80's London, or the ones you see occasionally on the US noise-vid sites. Basically a 30ft dirty but carpetted room with a few chairs and some undecipherable grafftit for the backdrop. Great! Being a bit skint I've knocked back a couple of cans of Kestrel Super on the way down so I can relax into the gig and concentrate on filming. Not so great - one doesn't 'knock back' 9% vol lager unless it's for 'medical' (read suicidal) reasons. I feel like I've had a big hit of something illegal and dodgy as I stumble around finding a good place to shoot from; I'm in the Giblets sound check and an upbeat jazz punk guitar drum gets me going. By the time Chora open I'm well reclined on a pile of bags and coats and the cam is on my belly going up and down with my breathing, when I manage to control it I find I'm sat right behind Ben who plays his electrickery kneeling on the floor and his trousers are loose so although Chora are on form with their usual psyche-noise (even minus drummer) the visuals aren't great unless pant makers Klein are interested (will let you know lads). The Giblets are three of the Hotsnack guys (as it's easier to know them by), and I love their humour; the way that each time I see them they're a different incarnation, revolving round strange, heady freeform drones and colourful minor-chord melodies. Expect the unexpected. Hooded and masked, the trio tonight could be a mixture of Gong and 80's new wave punk...with more than a hint of surrealism. Most of the 40 plus crowd are down in the bar and even I'm happily yapping when Corsano and Flower pipe up. I haven't even noticed Corsano set up his whole drum kit, and now he's got a string across his snare and he's playing it with a bow. Flower, from where I'm sitting directly below (trying to get a good shot again..) has an ironing board and could be doing the ironing if it wasn't for his distorted electric sitar strains now filling the room, along with the returning boozers. Trance induced by this strange dronic soup Corsano now starts to rub, beat, elbow, kick and administer any other manner of playing the kit you care to imagine, altering and adding bits on the fly, gradually turning into a frenzy of pure devotional freeform rhythms. He is the man of the moment, no doubt, and the energy is tangible, as you can see from the film clip, whole body twitching at times in time out time... Along with Flower's manic temple string mantras these two cranked up a decent, if at times subduing racket. Noticeably all male, some of the night's material felt slightly lacking the vital spark. That doesn't mean any of the musicians are lacking anything, more that what they have as a gift could be taken much, much further, which usually means a lot of hard work which means less fun but the reward is increased focus and ultimately love and pure originality. (blah..) ie. "...at this point in music history the creative soundsmith will make the heart within any style serve to make an entirely new music." (M.Archer). I'm sure the guys will agree with me (I know some of them are highly self-critical anyway) that when there's a real and high synergy you know it... and the bar has already been set high. Audience / space / time dynamics can and does make a huge difference, additionally, as a punter I'm never one for going along just to 'support' for the sake of it as this can damage an artist's impression of themself. Anyway, believe in ley lines? Aye, there's one going right through the centre spot on the footie pitch next door, comes right through the Cricketers and ends up in a field on t' moors at a 1979 free Hawkwind gig....
Links: Architects of Harmonic Rooms
Review added 12 Dec 05

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