The Dodos

+ Swanton Bombs, Collapsing Cities

100 Club, London - 12 Aug 2008

by Dan Worth

Dodos don't do quiet

"At times the vocals are lost beneath the sound of the drums and the manically fast guitar strumming but it adds to the tone of the gig, a sense of nervous energy being released through the intensity of the playing. "

Let’s dive straight in shall we? First up we’re treated to a real new-noise by the name of Swanton Bombs (apparently that’s a wrestling move?). The two young lads are drummer Brendan Heaney, bashing the hell out of his kit with a speed and panache that is hard not to be impressed by, and Dominic McGuinness on vocals and guitar, playing some top-notch stop-start, fast-slow, clean-distorted chord progressions. There is a joyous simplicity to the sound that is a cross between punk, rock, and at times thrash, all wrapped up in a vague nod towards indie-songwriting sensibilities. You could well hear more of Swanton Bombs. Plus with only two members in their band, a 50% royalty split. Good thinking.

This was followed up by Collapsing Cities whose sound suggested they thought it was 1994 and the idea that a Happy Mondays meets Oasis sound is innovative. It isn’t. They weren’t helped by sound problems but it was all rather ordinary and merely underlined the energy and freshness of Swanton Bombs that had come before.

But on to the main event: The Dodos recent album 'Visiter' (sic.) has been gaining many a-positive review across the music community and they underlined why here. Playing predominantly songs from the new album, including new single ‘Fools’, as well as songs including ‘Ashley’, ‘Walking’ which segued into ‘Red and Purple’ as it does on the album, and ‘Jodi’, they created a hell-of-a-noise for just three blokes, Meric Long providing both vocals and playing acoustic guitar.

Joe Haener played the dustbin - honestly. He was giving it a right old beating too, and has been for a while judging by the state of it. He also accompanied on the glockenspiel to provide some melodious background to the raucous drumming of Logan Kroeber. It would be easy to simply label Kroeber’s drumming as loud, tribal etc, and leave it at that, but there is a deftness of touch to his playing that means as they build towards their final crescendos of noise it’s him who is guiding them there with such seamless control you hardly notice his gradually increasing speed, helping Long follow, er, along. At times Long's vocals are lost beneath the sound of the drums and his own manic guitar strumming but it adds to the tone of the gig, a sense of nervous energy being released through the intensity of the playing.

Everything was pinging along nicely and come 11pm the set should have ended and the old adage 'less is more' should have been applied. But they play on for one final song that just isn’t as strong as most that came before. Moreover some people have already left assuming it’s over, or are talking at the back, while others are glancing at their watches thinking about last tubes home. It makes for a slightly low-key ending. That’s not to say the crowd don’t respond with ferocious applause come the end, but you want an audience to leave thinking, ‘oh I wished they’d played just one more’, not the opposite. A minor gripe though to an otherwise enjoyable rambunctious set.

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