There’s very few things that’ll get me into town after an insanely tiring day and into a gig venue – an Oxjam show seems like one of those occasions where it’d be rude not to. Especially with the likes of The Jorneta Stream and Pistols & Vultures on the lineup. A fairly eclectic mixture of music, no one could complain that there wasn’t something for everyone. Opening with Shooty & The Bang Bang, sans drummer, performed a vocally strong acoustic set – their banter between tracks wasn’t really for me, prostitutes and wanking isn’t particularly edgy and just comes across as immature, which is a shame as musically they sounded far maturer. It was off putting to me, it didn’t really match the music which, complaint about banter aside, was actually very good; some excellent guitar parts and strong vocals. Following them came Talk Tight who, apparently, were performing on stage for the first time. The floor of Three Wise Monkeys played to their strengths, allowing their vocalist a bit of space to wonder and get up close to the audience. They’re not my usual kind of music (they had a seven string guitar…) but no one would argue that they aren’t talented. An incredibly tight performance considering their apparent inexperience! I’d expect big things from this band soon.
Half way through the night came S.A.D., who are described as prog/rock/fusion. Prog music gets a bad reputation for it’s over indulgence and it was apparent during soundcheck, half way through a harmonised guitar part, that this was going to be no exception. Obviously they’re talented musicians but their set felt like it lasted a few years, occasionally dipping in and out of wah-wah bass, with multiple time changes. There’s likely a place for this kind of music but that place isn’t my ear drums. Sorry.
By this point the night is running a bit behind (the apparent 11pm end a distant memory and there’s still two more bands to go) so I decided to treat The Jorneta Stream as the headliner. No regrets there; even with an apparent lack of practice, their songs sound magnificent. Tapping their way through guitar parts with brilliantly harmonised vocals and stop start parts, it’s a shame that they don’t play more often. I think they showed a strong lesson to their final support act; it’s possible to play music which is both technically complex and yet still be interesting. Overall then a fairly mixed bag but you tend to get that when you put on a night with such a mix of styles. The only real letdown was how behind the night ran, although anyone could see that starting a gig at 8:30pm and putting on five bands with the intention of finishing at 11pm was ambitious. It’s just a shame that, feeling half asleep that late, I had to miss the excellent Pistols & Vultures.
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