GIG REVIEW: Male Bonding @ Corn Exchange, Newbury

On Friday 4th June, I went to Newbury’s town centre Theatre venue to see Male Bonding and a few support bands. I’d got in contact with the headliners and they graciously gave me and a mate of mine a place on the guestlist, we arrived and got in, to see the first band on stage, they were:

Peers
A group of four 16-17 year old indie kids who played some pretty bland music. I wouldn’t be surprised, however, if Peers made it based solely on their haircuts. They had nailed that major label-idealised image down to a tee, so look possibly to be a surefire success in the future, unless there is a major genre change and those labels don’t like generic indie bands anymore. Actually, I lie, ONE of their songs, was half decent, just lost in amidst the set of boring shit and even that didn’t grab me as I’ve completely forgot the name. Also, a note to the lead singer, I don’t care how homoerotic or ironic you are trying to come across, a Twilight Saga tee does make you look shit even if the soundtracks are fucking brilliant.
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Sister Gracie
This band looked a shade of ridiculous, with the lead singer dressed in tight-fitting purple trousers and braces and the bass guitarist looking like he had come straight from a Doors convention, these outfits annoyed me intensely, fortunately the drummer at the back cut an unconvincing figure. I have to admit though, we were pleasantly surprised with the combination of over-theatrical entrance music and a style that was incredibly OTT as evidenced by their mad, flailing dancing, but also very psychedelic, almost prog rock-like and some songs sounded a bit Pixies-ish with the bass line. However, this soon grew pretty boring, as the songs quickly became monotonous.
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Wounds
Wounds came on not long after, playing a set that was utterly metal and terribly out of place. The jovial antics, like the singer’s running stage dive and the guitarist playing amongst the crowd, really built up a rapport with the smallish crowd. The songs were upbeat and angry, based on their actual songs it probably wasn’t the best band I’ve ever seen as I’m not massively into metal or hardcore to be honest, but I enjoyed the set purely because of the atmosphere. Especially signified by the enforced stage invasion at the end of the set, in which EVERYONE was on the stage with the band, singing along to what I think was “Drop Dead Fucking Dead”. It sure as hell made it fun.
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Male Bonding
When Male Bonding came on, I was incredibly disappointed by the Newbury turnout, where were all the hipsters? Needless to say, they kicked the set into full tilt, playing erratically fast and brilliant renditions of most songs from the album, opening strongly with T.U.F.F., before proceeding through other songs in their impressive catalogue and constructed some medleys leaving the seemingly baffled crowd no time to applaud. I felt almost alone watching the band, I did my usual thing of singing along to what I could remember and shimmying left and right, but I felt the audience didn’t engage well with them at all. They obviously hadn’t come to see them. And as usual, there were some twats at the front who had to ruin it for everyone else, by dancing completely stupidly and obvious patronizingly to the band.

The obvious standouts included “Year’s Not Long”, “All Things This Way” and “Nothing Remains” and the set was solid throughout, I was hoping for some of the older demo tracks that didn’t feature on the album, but unfortunately the set was a bit short and sweet probably because of time constraints and the lack of actual connection with what was left of an audience. After the show, I tried (and failed) to haggle for a tee, which I think might have made the band think I was rude, sorry! But they gave me a free tape and some stickers! THANKS GUYS! At the end of the day, despite no one really being there, I enjoyed the gig, for the people that will be seeing them on their current tour, you’re most definitely in for a treat.

Downloads
Worse To Come (Daytrotter Session)
One Door Closes Another Door Closes (Demo)