Tying Tiffany
1914s
93 Feet East, London
Thursday July 28 2011
We're down Brick Lane tonight, where every curry house looks like a neon-lit nightclub, while the actual nightclub is merely a mysterious door in the wall.
I'm just about to walk through that mysterious door when someone hands me a flyer for the gig I'm about to see. Which, as promotion goes, is a bit of a fail, if you ask me. The time to give out flyers is in the three or four weeks leading up to the gig. There's not much point advertising the show to people who are already on their way in to see it!
Maybe that's the reason 93 Feet East isn't exactly rammed tonight. But that doesn't seem to bother the 1914s, who kick up a storm as if the place was packed and heaving.
They're a disconcerting bunch, the 1914s. The name suggests some sort of sternly apocalyptic folk outfit, all furrowed brows and earnest ballads about the human condition. But you can file that thought in the bin right away. That's not what the 1914s are about at all.
In reality, the 1914s are a rather brilliant multiple pile-up involving slinky electro, spiky post-punk, and a wayward glam sensibility that's part Sally Bowles and part Ziggy Stardust. The result is a gloriously odd electro-glam racket that manages to be left field and accessible at the same time.
You find yourself marvelling at the band's bursts of angular guitar and sweeps of unexpected elctronics even as your hips start twitching and your feet start to move. The singer is the focal point of the show - the 1914s' own one-woman collision between Sally and Ziggy. She strikes attitudes like a vogueing mannequin, and sings in a soul diva holler that runs the gamut between loud, and even louder. Weird and rather wonderful, I think. I only have one question: when will the 1914s do a gig with Franz Ferdinand?
There are plenty of disparate influences fighting it out in Tying Tiffany's music, too: everything from full-on techno to wild-eyed punk rock inform her hammering racket. And here it comes now: guitar, bass, and drum machine are cranked to within an inch of their lives as Tiffany herself, a kinetic Louise Brooks in don't-mess-with-me boots, stakes out her territory centre-stage in a riot grrl whirl.
This is the first ever Tying Tiffany gig in the UK, and she's still very much an unknown quantity. The audience is visibly torn between delight and fright - some of the more punk-headed people present immediately latch on to the crash-and-bur quality of the show, and set up an instant mosh. Other more cautious souls watch from a safe distance as the Tying Tiffany tornado sweeps through.
But there's no arguing with the electric energy of the songs: the brutal gabba of 'Shake A Snake', the rampaging riff 'n' shout workout that is 'Show Me What You've Got'.
It's not a totally relentless rush, though. Quieter interludes crop up, moments where Tiffany stands pensively at the mic, temporarily becoming the eye of the storm rather than the ferocious thunder goddess.
'Miracle', that loping electro-groove that New Order would've been proud to write, is a neat pirouette amid the stompers. But we're never far from another noise-burst. The set slams to its finish like a runaway train hitting the buffers. Bam! Tying Tiffany has arrived.
I think it'll take more than one gig for Tying Tiffany to build things up in the UK. Right now she's at that rather awkward position where she's relatively well established around Continental Europe, but Britain - always a law unto itself, never more so than when it comes to music - doesn't really know her.
A support tour or two would probably do the business. After a jaunt around the UK with, say, Factory Floor or Ulterior or Atari Teenage Riot (Tying Tiffany would fit right in with any of 'em) I think the fanbase would take care of itself.
Tonight's gig was just the first spark. Now it's time to pour the petrol. (And get the flyers out a bit earlier, too.)
Tying Tiffany:
1914s:
For more photos from this gig, find the bands by name here.
Find a Tying Tiffany interview here.
Find a Tying Tiffany album review here.
