He Who Cannot Be Named
The Duel
Obsessive Compulsive
Nambucca, London
Friday August 12 2011
In Nambucca's back room right now, we are about to witness the loneliness of the long-distance rock band, played out for us on stage by Obsessive Compulsive. They're down from Manchester for a support slot in a London pub - not exactly an enormodome experience at the best of times. But for an out-of-town band with no London fanbase, it practically guarantees an uphill struggle.
As Obsessive Compulsive kick off, there are precisely two people in the audience - a bloke who's wandered in from the bar to find a seat, and me. The band launch into their set with impressive enthusiasm, but as they survey the wide open spaces where the audience isn't, I bet they're thinking 'Oh shit."
Fortunately, as the band's grungy-metally rampage gets going, a few more curious souls venture in, and eventually there's a respectable crowd in the room. So it's not quite an "Oh shit" situation after all, and if Obsessive Compulsive's music is a bit too much of an identikit-metal experience for me, I'll certainly give 'em a few points for being gung-ho in the face of adversity.
The Duel have no problems with the recognition factor. They're a London band, they've got a crowd of fans and friends down the front - this gig ain't gonna be a problem. The Duel also have a new line-up, which isn't necessarily news - the 
band changes its line-up more frequently than most people eat cheese sandwiches. But now there are two guitars, bass and keyboards in the band, which creates a big, full sound.
The Duel seem to be moving on from their crash-bash none-more-punk origins, and carving out their own territory. It's the difference between The Clash and London Calling, as it were. That kind of progression.
The Duel's best stuff always were the songs where they mixed things up a bit, injecting everything from glam to powerpop into their gutter-glitter din.
Vocalist Tara Rez, all new-waved up in a yellow PVC mini skirt like a stray Rezillo, gives it her best London street poet delivery, a Camden Town Patti Smith nailing each word to the beat. Yes, The Duel do the business, but there's more: they're the only band I've ever seen who can use a keytar and still look cool. Now that's the clincher.
I'd love to tell you the name of He Who Cannot Be Named, but...he cannot be named. However, I am allowed to tell you that HWCBN (as he's known to his mates, probably) plays guitar for legendary Chicago punkers Dwarves. Tonight he's fronting his own band, and - unexpectedly, to me at any rate - indulging his pub rock tendency.
I didn't even know that He Who (if I may make so bold to call him that ) had any pub rock tendencies. Given Dwarves' reputation as out-there kinda dudes, I thought we'd be in for something fairly outrageous tonight - or at the very least a bit of rock 'n' roll edginess. Well, Mr Cannot Be Named (as we should formally address him) is wearing his trademark minimalist fetish gear, as if he's all stripped and ready for a bout of lucha libre. But once you get past that...it's pub rock.
The band has an instrumental jam for ten minutes or so by way of an intro - a curiously underwhelming way to start the show, watching a bunch of rock musos having a kickabout.
Then He (as I think we're well enough aquainted now to call him) appears and the set proper begins. And it's not terrible, if rough-at-the-edges rock music is your thing. At best there's a New York Dolls-ish swagger to the songs, with a Lurkers-esque robustness to the riffing (and I bet that's the first time you've seen anything described as 'Lurkers-esque').
But it goes no further than that. Ultimately the band reduce it all to the level of good ol' rock lads knocking a few chunky guitar tunes aound for a larf, and once the novelty of the frontman's wacky costume wears off, we could be in the presence of any bunch of competently unexceptional boozer-rockers. Just goes to show. It takes more than a mask and a studded jockstrap, kids.
He Who Cannot Be Named: Facebook
Obsessive Compulsive: Website | MySpace | Facebook
For more photos from this gig,
find the bands by name here.
