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Butterfly Bangs / Five Fast Hits
London, Notting Hill Arts Club
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Article
written by James A
Jul 30, 2006.
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A look at Five Fast Hits' influences lists the usual suspects of The Beatles, The Libertines, The Coral, The Zutons, etc but the enthusiasm and competency of the four piece puts their own slant on their sound. The sound is raw but enjoyable and this is a band who could easily play a bigger venue than one of this size, although this is their very first London gig. You could be forgiven for not realising they aren’t singing in their native tongue and extra kudos has to go to them for that. Hailing from Munich for a whirlwind week of smaller venues their songs veer from Arctic Monkeys style everyday honesty to a credible Ordinary Boys to Mando Diao at their most singalong, at least they will be once you have learnt the tracks.
With nearly all the songs staying the shorter side of three minutes there is no fear of them outstaying their welcome over the course of the ten tracks they perform here tonight. Lead singer Raffi is charm personified even in the face of some Aussie heckling and barring some slight drum complications with Frank’s kit the set is a good base to start from in their conquering of these lands. Set highlights can be found on the EP on sale at their gigs with Mr. Marone and Got Any Mantras? the best indication of their sound.
Butterfly Bangs are another band with the standard four piece set up of vocalist, guitarist, bassist and drummer and come from Devon. This hasn’t changed since the last time I saw them but the band have definitely improved immensely. First spied supporting The Bishops at Pop off Oxford Street they might as well have been two different bands such is the difference in quality, though the terrible sound of the kitsch venue shouldn’t be discounted.
The band are tall in stature and their sound is big too, especially Emmanuel’s vocals which are proving too powerful for some PA systems by all accounts. “I am alone, although I feel full of love”, he sings on the first track ably supported by Alexis’ cracking guitar work. This song is slow and very melodic but the pace is soon quickened.
In places a more optimistic Rakes are evoked (Flowers In The Box), in others Bromheads or Art Brut (Falling Away) or even Vincent Vincent (On The Street) but they have a strong enough identity of their own and soon have this venue as sweaty as any festival tent this summer. Psycho and It’s A Lie set the stall out early but it’s a tempo maintained throughout until final song Greatest Love, which teases a respite but once the drums kick in is a fine outro, “full of soul” indeed.
Special mention must go to Falling Away, which had been unveiled for the first time at this same venue six months previously and for that reason was dedicated to the man "asleep" in the corner. It would have been surprising if promoter Alan McGee was really asleep because Butterfly Bangs are definitely a band to watch out for.
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