Live (Online) Part 1
Sucker Music Week Festival
Various venues
July 6 - 12 2020
Reporting team: Steve Willcox, Izzy Butler
With 2020's summer music festivals on shutdown, promoters and artists gave been seeking out new ways of keeping themselves, and their fans, entertained. One of the more ambitious offshoots of this was the Sucker Music Week festival, hosted by music development company Sucker.
With live performances running throughout the week, Sucker's aim was that if you couldn't get to a festival physically - because, well, there weren't any! - they would bring the festival to your living-room, live and direct. Because of the experimental nature of such a project, it seemed that a number of the artists seemed a little unsure how to approach it on the day, with it looking like some treating it more as a FaceTime with friends than what should have been, or at least attempted to be, a professional, public performance.
And of course, with each artist coming from a different venue, from the spare bedroom to a slightly more professional rehearsal space, in the event it was something of a hotch-potch in sound and visual quality. There were also a lot of bands whose set consisted of just the frontperson and perhaps a guitarist, for an acoustic delivery. Now one or two like this is okay, but with one after another in succession, it did become rather much of a muchness.
But, gripes aside, for a new and free venture it also gave an opportunity to hear some live music, and check out a few new names, along with more well known acts.
Monday
Being the first on any bill is slightly daunting, and for Southampton's Beth Rossiter so it proved at midday on Monday. Switching between acoustic guitar and keyboard, her voice and songs - which included a cover of local (Isle of Wight) girl Sarah Close - were gentle, but hampered by fluffs, re-starts and a lack of preparation. IB
The man from Annik looked as bemused as us, and the sound so low at first it was impossible to make out much. "You can hear me, right?" No! we were all shouting in unison at our screens. He got out his guitar, and although the sound improved a smidgen, sadly my attention span didn't go up more than half a notch. Apparently, Annik are usually a five-piece indie rockgaze unit, releasing their first single, 'Losing Spirit', in May. Listening to this later, it is actually not bad, so a shame five became one this time. Their Twitter description reads "we make loud noises". Just not today. IB
Ghanaian born, London-based Mauvey got a mid-afternoon groove on in a studio. Sax, guitar, vocals and a laptop drew a positive auduence response with their sit-down, soulful hip-hop stylr. Sitting on a comfy looking leather armchair, kicked off with 'Blush' - and was very near slipping right off as he cranked up the high notes. Celebrating the release later in the week of 'Honest' and airplay on Radio 1 the night before, he veered from the downtempo and reflective, to the dancey, upbeat vibe of closer 'Colourway'. IB
Beth Rossiter
Mauvey
Flowvers
Freya Beer
Bringing along some upbeat dream-pop, Portsmouth’s Flowvers are on good form despite being all bunched up on the sofa with three guitars all in sync. Fan favourite ‘Valencia’ gets a deserved airing with Matisse Moretti providing its heartwarming vocals. ‘Long Way Home’ has a catchy riff behind it and their 2018 debut single ‘Fresh Air’ closes the short 20-minute set. SW
Starting with new single ‘Arms Open Wide’, Freya Beer is accompanied by drummer Owen as they power through her poetic lyrics. The guitar in ‘Secret Garden’ hauntingly echos throughout the conservatory along with it hypnotic beats. Last year's single ‘Dear Sweet Rosie’ ends a set that highlighted Freya’s ability to link poetry and prose into a heavier sound. SW
Southampton alt-rock outfit Toreador brings us a stripped backed set, starting with ‘Too Deep’ Jack Wilson’s voice sounds great alongside the slow bass and rhythm shaker. ‘Be Your Fool’ off their last EP ‘Hot Glue’, combines vocal harmonies with its edgy guitar riff. But ending the set with a sublime version of ABBA’s ‘Dancing Queen’ makes for a great finale. SW
Tuesday
Never heard of this Manchester band before, but glad I caught Garden Party during my dinner break at work, as vocalist Liam Horrocks starts with ‘In The Middle’ and its strumming melody on the acoustic guitar, a fast paced number which got some positive reaction from the viewers. The obligatory cover song was ‘Kathleen’ by Catfish and the Bottlemen which sounded great, but ending the short set with their latest single ‘Tomorrow’ gave me reason enough to take mental note to see them again. SW
Foxglove sit on a sofa in front of a potted palm, and a bowl of bananas to one side. The Manchester four-piece indie poppers are slimmed down to a duo of singer Abi White and guitarist Ryan Croney. Their short set slotted in some oldiesike last year's 'Blind', as well as a couple of newbie tryouts. "It feels weird doing a gig like this," Abi says at one point. Weird or not, she still gives a heartfelt performance from her spot on the sofa. IB
Vocalist Stu Whiston from Macclefield’s Shader played an acoustic set for us and started with last year’s single ‘There Was A Time’ to give us a taste of his reworked songs, this one being faster and brighter in tone. Latest single ‘Time Is Right’ sounded great with just the guitar and last song was a cover of Oasis’s ‘Do You Know What I Mean’ that was released 23 years ago to the day. SW
More pop sounding than I’d like, but Lucy Deakin sounded great without the usual Euro disco beats behind her.
Akin to ‘Sigrid’ Lucy and her guitarist Tom launches straight into their set with ‘It’s Cool’ with a relaxed tempo and vocal. Picking up the pace with ‘Running ‘ with some fast guitar picking brings us to the cover of Dua Lipa’s ‘New Rules’. Closing the set with latest single ‘Bad In Love’ shows another side to this on-the-rise artist that I’ve never seen before... and I like it. SW
Garden Party
Foxglove
Lucy Deakin
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