Pitchshifter / Sikth
8 October 2004
London Astoria, London
Johan was on tour with Dragonforce, hence all photos are from my compact camera.
Arriving late at the Astoria, we chose not to take up a guy`s offer of free hugs outside (very odd) and we had also just missed Minus. We were however in time to catch Sikth taking the stage. Now I had only heard their debut album, "The Trees Are Dead & Dried Out Wait For Something Wild" the week prior to the gig and when asked to describe it, "mad as a box of frogs" came to mind.
Musically these guys are extremely technically proficient, somehow managing to mix System Of A Down, Tool, Dream Theater and, occasionally to my ears, late 80s mad prog thrashers Watchtower. Now this would all be well and good, but possessed with such dexterity, the band have decided what they really need to complete their sound is the cast of South Park singing along. Obviously they weren`t available so they got the nearest thing in Justin Hill and Mikee Goodman to shout, squeal, bark and on occasionally even sing.
Sikth previewed a fair amount of new material, however it`s schizophrenic nature made it very difficult to follow. In fact, much of the material I had heard on their debut seemed to wiz straight over my head. Only Hold My Finger, with it`s Tool-esque middle section and title track Wait For Something Wild raised my interest.
Presentation wise, there was little on stage movement, though this wasn`t wholly surprising given the concentration required for such technical music and also the time changes were causing havoc and seemingly confusion for the pit. The lighting engineer apparently wasn`t too bothered either as most of the set saw them cast in practically darkness. Certainly too dark for my camera to pick anything out.
Finally as I turned to my friend to say "they were doing my head in", the vocalists departed and the band closed the final song with a delicious prog work out which was akin to Dream Theater. There`s certainly a huge amount of potential with Sikth, though I suspect they will continue to veer off at a tangent to my tastes.
Having missed Pitchshifter`s final tour, I was delighted to discover that to celebrate the release of their new DVD the band would be reuniting for a handful of UK shows. Judging by the packed Astoria, it`s apparent I`m not the only one pleased by this final opportunity to see the band live and with a crowd of this size, it`s a wonder why they called it a day.
The huge Pitchshifter eye backdrops have come out of storage, staring out at the expectant throng until the lights go out, with each band members arrival met with an increasingly loud cheer. A quick one two of Scene This and Keep It Clean follow.
J.S. Claydon, although very low in the mix, was immediately making his presence felt. His careering round the stage whilst holding the mic like it`s an ice cream cone and his "Destroy" shirt owe a lot to the sneering of Johnny Rotten, but Claydon looks far too young for a guy who has been fronting this band since 1989.
There`s plenty of life in J.S.`s brother Mark Claydon too, who with his long dreads looks no different to when he originally churned out the likes of Triad, which made a very welcome appearance tonight. I have to say that I preferred the original Desensitized deeper singing style on this song however. Mark joins his brother in bouncing about the stage, leaving the other brothers on stage, Dan & Tim Rayner, pretty static on either flank. The pair are in matching black with big white trainers and, short of the masks, their look had me recalling Slipknot at this same venue.
Last time I saw Pitchshifter at this venue it was from the pit, but today`s vantage point from the balcony enable a bird`s eye view of Jason Bowld`s impressive drumming. The guy really did work his socks off, hammering out the breakbeats on his snare.
Other than Triad the main portion of the set is taken from last two albums P.S.I. and Deviant, with the crowd kept waiting for anything from breakthrough album www.pitchshifter.com. This ordering caused me to become a bit impatient mid-way through the set which seemed to lose a bit of momentum.
Coming back with all guns blazing however, the band pitch three www.pitchshifter.com songs together, with What`s In It For Me just a warm up. J.S. asks "if we could only hear one Pitchshifter song ever what would it be?". Unsurprisingly Genius follows with it`s familiar Prodigy style backing. Microwaved is next up but the annoying loud backing tape in the verse seemed to take the edge of it for me.
Following Shutdown the band file off stage to be replaced by a choir in matching Pitchshifter shirts. J.S. explains that the bands parents are here tonight and apologises to his Mum "for always f**king swearing - whoops!". Apparently the folks are always asking "When are you going to play something nice?" and the choral version of Please Sir that followed was dedicated to them.
The full on electric version follows in stark contrast and sees J.S. perform a full marks swan dive into the crowd to return and stand on his head for almost a full minute.
Leaving Pitchshifter behind and starting afresh was a very brave move and comes with no guarantee of equal success, as Mark Claydon found with The Blueprint. It will be interesting to see how J.S. Claydon`s new band, Doheny, fair, and it wouldn`t surprise me if they are not successful if Pitchshifter were resurrected once more. Although tonight was an enjoyable reminder of what we will be missing, it saw the band in a celebratory mood rather than with the hunger and passion that they were previously capable of.
Pitchshifter set list:
Scene This / Keep It Clean / Eight Days / We Know / Hidden Agenda / Triad / Down / My Kind / What`s In It For Me / Genius / Microwaved / Shutdown / Please Sir (Choral) / Please Sir /
LINKS:
Pitchshifter
Sikth
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