Mexicolas

Barfly, Liverpool - 3 Mar 2008

by Pete Charles

Mexicolas miss a trick in their bid to be Britain's best unpopular band

"‘Big In Japan’ and ‘Easy Smile’ would normally be excellent live tracks with the right atmosphere, but tonight it just isn’t there"

With the possible exception of Amy Winehouse, nobody likes anything in its purest form anymore. Music is all about trends and if you’re a band that manages to jump aboard the gravy train at the right time, it’s tempting to hang on till the wheels fall off. But are there any bands these days that just do their own thing, regardless of the style of the times and achieve notable commercial success?

Birmingham three-piece Mexicolas seem to have grown up on a sound that is less popular than I.D. cards. Their heavy, infectious rock is what has for years been lacking from contemporary British music. The reason for this is that, as tonight’s meagre turn out suggests, music fans are content to look no further than across the pond to Foo Fighters and QOTSA for this sort of thing. To New Noise, this is quite unfathomable.

Each song is inventive, smartly textured (despite their minimalist setup) and hard-rocking. ‘Big In Japan’ and ‘Easy Smile’ would normally be excellent live tracks with the right atmosphere, but tonight it just isn’t there. Waistcoat-sporting guitarist Jamie Evans does his best to coax people forward so he can, "see the whites of their eyes," but even then the crowd's response lacks enthusiasm. To their credit, the band don’t show any frustration (with the possible exception of bassist Del Carter, who has enough hair to mask his).

Disappointingly, though understandably, they leave some of their slower songs out, perhaps to avoid showing any pomposity. This is a shame because album tracks ‘Times Infinity’ and ‘Spies’ are wonderfully complex yet beautiful songs with choruses you could hang your heart on. Instead, Mexicolas opt for newer material such as ‘B13’ - a song, "about people back home who spend too much time, er, itching their noses”.

You get the feeling Mexicolas are just playing songs to suit the circumstances, which in fairness, is probably their best bet. It’s nothing more than a rudimentary performance and drummer Tim Trotter’s final cymbal crash feels more like a death knell than a victory gong.

And so New Noise departs a tad despondent, but conscious that there may be more to this band than meets the eye. They play the Give It A Name festival in London on 11th May and a larger attendance may just bring out their personalities and make for a more exciting gig. Here’s hoping.

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