Temples & Charlie Boyer and the Voyeurs Gig Review Hare & Hounds.

Temples & Charlie Boyer and the Voyeurs. 19 June 2013. Hare & Haounds Birmingham, Gig Review. 

Tonight was the my turn to see a couple of hotly tipped bands in the quality venue Hare & Hounds in Kings Heath, a suburb of Brum with excellent musical heritage, Pink Floyd, the Beatles and the Stones all having played there possibly not in and amongst the cash converter and charity shops that now litter the high street.

It was the second time in seeing Charlie Boyer & the Voyeurs (great name) and third for Temples who had supported Suede, and both seem to be the darlings of 6 music. So whilst raring to see them when booking the tickets, a couple of work nights out and waking up at 6 in London that morning to get back for work meant I was jaded, and coupled with the heat and hay fever I wasn't in the best frame of mind.

Settling down with a revitalising San Miguel, the venue filled up as soon as the Voyeurs took to the stage. They looked suitably cool, singer/guitar 'Charlie' looking suspiciously like my mates cool little brother, but then I haven't seen him in a decade and I doubt being in his late 30's it's him. Drummer looked suitably modelled on Dave Grohl, keys, guitar and bass looking cool too, or perhaps it's just the kids all look cool now.

Second song in and the B side to the 7" I got last time 'Be Nice' gets an airing, it's a cracking glam rock stomper, complete with Bolanesque voice, sadly not to get the fake ending from the last gig or single (or to make their album, really??).

As the 30 minute set continued, the band that came most to mind was the Dandy Warhols, not so much the chirpy vodaphone advert but more the wider droney elements (in a good way I hasten to add). I got fascinated by the impact of the 2 middle band members in between Charlie and the keyboards, both able to contribute with the minimum of effort. Firstly the bassists rocking back and forth of his bass to the rhythm of the track, then secondly the guitarist, with black curtains, black shirt, black guitar, black trousers, no facial expression and minimal movement of hands. Neil Codling from Suede came to mind, it may have been he desire to save energy in the heat that caused the stance, but I doubt it.



The penultimate song is the quiet one, apparently, well just slow, with a Bowie style vocalising, smoke machines and shiny disco balls.

End of set and we (might) have been directed to the merch stand, but Charlie needs to enunciate better if he wants to sell his wares. Heading over to the back I was hit by the modern day issue of buying a 12 inch vinyl album being uncomfortable to stand with for the main act, so I didn't.....

After a stretch of smart phone surfing, the Temples came on for their 40 injure headline set. Again looking cool, guitarist looking like Noel Fielding, singer with a great Bolan hair cut and sparkly blouse. Again their appearance coincided with a flooding back of audience with suitably high enthusiasm for the darlings of the music blogs.

The set was cracking, every tune in their fleeting set hanging together well, the only slight mishap being perhaps the smoke machine placed on the speakers which launched dry ice head height onto the singer causing a speedy change in direction.

The gig was great but the stand out song was the last tune, recent single (Shelter Song) whether this is just familiarity or it's a classic I'm not sure but it's a cracking swirling slab of psychedelia that would grace any Austin Powers movie.

When they legged it, I took the plunge at the merch stall, finding out that talking to the Voyeurs enigmatic guitarist, and complimenting him on the set, plus buying an album and single meant that the face burst into a broad grin and some emotion was shown. Great stuff.

Leaving the hare & hounds in a balmy summers evening it was amazing the impact that vinyl, cracking bands and San Miguel has to produce a sunny disposition.

Poppy and the Jezebels Gig Review

Poppy & the Jezebels: Hare and Hounds
Gig 27: 23 May 2012


A bout of sickness at home was over and Mr P had his pass to leave the premises at night, a bit of a bonus meant that from a work trip to Scotland was cancelled and I was able to attend the cheapest gig of the year so far, a mere £3, less money than the pint of Coors that I would be buying later that night. So having got my boy off to sleep with tales of the Magic Roundabout and Yellow Submarine I was off to the Hare and Hounds in the blistering heat of the Summer (better than the winter last week).


Getting into the gig, I was pleased to see the Hare and Hounds had kept to their approach of not hitting the show times at all, mainly as the stories took a little to long and this meant I didn't miss any of the Carpels, a band who are one of the hottest things to come out of Birmingham at the moment and per this interview Here graduated earlier in the day. As an aside it was hot in the venue, but it still raised a few eyebrows when a scantily clad Jezebel was wandering round the place.


I'm not much of a critic, but 3 guitars bass and drums, lead vocalist swapping with keyboards, looked promising but for me the first couple of songs we a bit lacking with, in particular, the backing vocalist trying a bit too hard and ending up like he was singing a different song over the top of the band. But they then settled down a bit and the song with 'You said she loved me' really progressed with the lead singer getting really expressive.


They did fess up to not having done this for a while, which may have explained the ring rustiness, and they introduced the new bassist, who really was pleased as punch to be there. Who did they sound like, well there was a reasonable chunk of Editors hidden in there (no bad thing) with a front man with the expressive dancing that reminded me of Elvis Costello.


Getting to the end of the show and Handshakes showed what the hypes focussed on. Thumbs up.


Then a half an hour when I wandered over to the merchandise stall and was pounced on by a nice bequiffed bloke who was at pains to stress that this wasn't his record label (plenty of vinyl on sale) but that he owned most of it as his mate ran the label and the double vinyl collection of post punk records selected by Jon Savage was a great thing of beauty to buy, which of course I did being a sucker for a good vinyl story. This plus the single by Poppy and the Jezebels were deposited back in the car ready for the Poppies (not PWEI) to come on stage.

When they came on stage it was amazing just how young they all looked, well except the drummer who popped on her shades and massive headphones and seemed completely detached from the rest of the band for the whole gig. I've liked this lot for a while, a quick search on Itunes suggests that it was 2007 when I got their first ep which seems odd given how young they all looked, but hey given Ash were about 12 when they were on John Peel age is no barrier. They were quick to leap into their half hour set, comprising great bubble gum pop songs, key boards bass and drums. There was plenty of chat between songs, a pride in all the great reviews of the new single, with a focus on the one bad review which slated their 'Brassy and Regional accents' and even a hopeless rendition of happy Birthday to half the mates of the band, which though allegedly well rehearsed descended into bum notes and giggles.


The penultimate track was a reggae number Mammas boy followed by a good rendition of single Sign in, Dream on Drop out, which whilst good was not the highlight of the set, suggesting great things from a longer player to come. The best bits about Poppy and the Jezebels is definitely the spark and fun, they reminded me of Fuzzbox, another great Brum band in the outlook on life, less guitars but same loads of fun. They finished the gig and filed off through the audience to the dressing room with pats on the back from the crowd. 


All in all what was the best £3.00 spent tonight? the average coors or the spectacular P&TJB's well the answers clearly the bouncy girls. Quality.


Most surprising scene of the night, the incredibly old chap, looking a bit like Grandad Steptoe who was stood by the door watching through out, made me feel quite young and sprightly.


P.S. via the joys of Twitter: 'lovely review... And that old figure watching by the doorway actually WAS my beloved Grandpa believe it or not! Xx Dom from PATJ'

A Sea of Bees who were out of this world or at least off this planet

So another trip to the Hare and Hounds who turn out to be the tardiest venue I have come across, as arriving 20 past the advertised doors opening time there was just closed doors up stairs with a couple of people stood patiently outside shrugging sheepishly waiting for the sound check to finish, suited me so I had a jar, a bit of a chat and cleared some emails.

When we got in, there were a number of nice little tables with red jars and candles, very nice. A quick chat to the soundman about what time were the bands yielded the reply of ooh don't know, I should find out. So I settled down at a little table (result) and awaited the first band. Dust motes, a local band representing a nice nervous quiet chap sitting on a stool acoustic guitar in hand with no eye contact and apologetic banter between songs and a bass player who smiled a bit but stroked his bass in the most gentle manner I have ever seen. Pleasant banter between songs and not a bad little set, there is a place in the world for head phones and 'Nervous Rock' copyright 2012.

Planty arrived mid motes and ensured we shared a nice romantic table with more premium than cooking lager, and on came the next band, Stealing Sheep, three potentially students from Liverpool, central mouthier one playing stand up drums, flanked by guitarist and keyboards (who turned out to be from Lichfield but an honorary scouse). They then started sharing out the banter playing quirky songs with odd instruments thrown in. Lots of track from the forthcoming album were played, with the 3rd track on the set list the stand out, I think it was one word starting with an M when I spoke to the guitarist, but who knows.

There was an awkward moment when 2 young ladies decided to stand in front of the romantic table. I plucked up courage, tapped on the shoulder, mentioned the view and they moved, sadly in front of Planty, but a bit more staring into the backs of their necks and they took the hit and wandered off.

The 2 lasting memories were the hey nonny now electric song, and a finale using one of the best sounding instruments I have ever seen, which I believe the technical term is a 'brilliantly circly click click Wooden thing'

To the main event and on came Sea of Bees, who had been lingering in the audience and by the CDs for the first 2 bands shouting encouragement quirkily.

Song one, and on came Jules and support guitarist amber, this first song was pretty average and the singers pained face led this to feel like it would be a long night, but then on came a long haired guitarist and a geeky drummer, and the sound was filled out. It's hard to Pigeon hole the sound to a genre, with quirky little noises picking out of the end of the songs. A bit of country coming out too, a bit of California, just ace.

The blokes turned out to have been picked up post flight to the UK in Kent, and a jet lagged 13 hour practice session.

SOB then filled the stage and the songs, each being previewed by a discussion about where the inspiration from the song came from, from a weirdly distracted mind and lots of 'you know's when if I'm honest all the audience probably didn't.

Lots of songs with one word titles, and a cover of 'leaving on a jet plane' which was flagged I think of the song of her life story, based on looking jealously on her brothers happiness in his relationship. Amber was also a real star of the show too, great banter including various small animal noises,

Huge warmth to SOB came back from the audience, and not a small amount from the fact that the was a heartfelt joy of having returned to Brum where they have enjoyed a couple of gigs previously, and 2 sets of friends in the audience for the Californians.

It was also a great touch that SOB were selling a hand made live CD, screen printed cover, which having listened to on the way home ally captured the feel, particular a slight banter before the first song, the stand out Gnomes.

All topped off with a McDonalds with voucher on way home.