Fossil Collective @ The Cluny, Newcastle, Friday 3rd May 2013
I’ll go against popular opinion here and put on the record that I’m not a big fan of The Cluny. It reeks of chip fat and pretension. Still, it’s a decent enough place to watch bands and as there aren’t too many venues of it’s size in Newcastle it tends to attract quite a few bands I want to see. I’m prepared to tolerate it for the visiting band this evening: Leeds based two-piece Fossil Collective, currently nearing the end of a 21 date tour of England and Scotland to promote their debut album “Tell Where I Lie”.
Signed to Dirty Hit records, the same label as Benjamin Francis Leftwich and The 1975, Fossil Collective consists of multi instrumentalists David Fendick and Jonny Hooker. Their first recordings saw them taking inspiration from classic albums by Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac and Simon and Garfunkel and suggested comparisons with more contemporary artists such as Fleet Foxes, Midlake and Bon Iver. Fossil Collective aim to try and capture the essence of that traditional songcraft, to strip everything back to the lyrics and the melody.
Word has been getting around about the beardy boys from Yorkshire. Recent EP’s have made playlists on Radio 2, 6 Music, Q, NME, XFM and iTunes USA and they have made the press in the likes of The Sunday Times, Time Out and The Independent. So it’s fair to say a decent-sized crowd in The Cluny are expecting a good show.
First up are Tyneside band The Lindsay Tin. Described as “an exotic business class cruise into the heart of darkness” they steam through a short set with little fuss. Sorry to say it makes little impact on the punters. Unremarkable.
Next up is Northwich’s Joe Banfi, recently signed to Communion Records; a young guitarist influenced by the likes of Nirvana, Nick Drake and The Deftones.
Banfi has been championed on XFM and 6 Music thanks to his track ‘Olive Green’ and has released a 4 track EP entitled ‘Iron’ in which according to his PR “his voice provides the telling instrument”. It’s hard to argue with this as his voice fills the silent room and actually shocks me at first with it’s controlled power; the lad has a canny set of pipes on him. He’s passionate too, and seems to be genuinely losing himself in the meaning of his music. The problem is, as his set progresses, I’m struggling to connect with him. I find it hard to pick up his lyrics as he veers from introspective into an emotional outpour, and I feel that rather from blending with his voice and complimenting his songs his guitar is an after thought. I wonder if maybe his asset is also his weakness – perhaps toning down his vocals and working more on his guitar melodies would help his emotions come across better?
So with The Cluny maintaining it’s usual standards of rubbish beer served without a smile, the enjoyment of my Friday night comes down to an hour of Fossil Collective. The band arrive on stage accompanied by a warm welcome. I was wondering how a two-piece would work their multi-instrumental sound into a live show and they do this with the addition of a keyboard player, a bassist and a lead guitarist to play alongside drummer Jonny and acoustic guitarist and singer David.
A barefooted(!)Jonny carefully steps over my can of Red Stripe (cheers!) and settles into his seat. It’s obvious immediately that the band are comfortable on stage and happy to be there, and why not; this show marks the end of a successful tour.
The opening song is one I’m not familiar with; a glance at the set list in front of me tells me it’s called ‘Under My Arrest’ and it makes for a chilled out opening to the set. Dave then announces “one we might know” and launches into ‘Let It Go’ which is the lead track of their debut EP. And indeed we do know it. Probably my favourite song of theirs, this song manages to encompass all their wonderful influences with their own skill of writing a damn good tune. The crowd are loving it and the band are loving it.
The next highlight for me is new single ‘Wolves’ which is like a stroll through the park with a pretty girl on a warm summer’s day; it has a lovely uplifting sound. Happy days. Check it out.
Another memorable song is ‘On and On’ which Dave announces as one of the first songs they ever wrote. It’s an effortless acoustic toe tapper and it’s well placed in the set. Although the set is basically a run through of the album “with some changes for dramatic effect”, their better songs are well placed between the fillers (for want of a better word) to keep the crowd enthralled.
Dave has a good line in banter throughout, appealing to the crowd with a comment that Newcastle is his favourite place he has been to on tour. And while many bands make this claim in a different city every night, I believe him. Jonny is quieter, but chips in at one point by thanking us for coming to listen to their “gentle-ish folk”. Modest – it’s much more than that!
I particularly like their last song, ‘The Magpie’. The band have a bit of fun and swap around instruments; bassist Jonas Gutierrez, taking a break from playing for Newcastle United, takes on the ukulele and then the drums; Dave casually picks up the bass part way through the song and Jonny takes on some kind of massive harmonica-like instrument; no idea what that is!
Clocking in at over 7 minutes it’s a great way to end the set and while it starts out pretty laid back it builds nicely into a loud crescendo with the band hinting at a rockier side.
The loud applause barely subsides before the band come back for an encore of ‘Rivers Edge’ and ‘Satellite’ – songs which are warmly received by an impressed crowd. It’s a solid ending to a generally strong set, and while there may be some average songs I think it’s more a case of a good band finding their feet and maybe sticking to a comfort zone at the moment rather than an average band lucking out with some special songs. Fossil Collective demonstrated they are a band with a lot of potential and I think although they have really only a handful of killer songs so far; there is definitely a Fossil Collective ‘sound’ and it’s well worth keeping an eye on them to see how they develop. For now, they are on my cider-drinking-in-the-backyard summer playlist. I wish them well in their upcoming tour of the USA. 8.4/10
Words and all live photos by Neil Johnson