So, where do I even begin.
I’m a shameless fan of the L Word. I love the Murmurs. And I genuinely love Uh Huh Her. Its pop music. And occassionally pop music, especially good pop music, is good for your soul.
This gig was meant to be a kinda guilty pleasure thing. Also The Horn The Hunt, which I have organized a show for previously and covered extensively on here, are supporting. One of my friends, Alice, has just joined the band as a guitarist. Could I have gotten a guestlist? Maybe. But this gig is at the Brude. And I like supporting local venues and actually paying for my ticket so that the bands get a fair deal too. I bought my ticket, thought, hey why not bring my camera too as I usually do when I go to local gigs and headed down.
Yes, I was expecting a mass of over-eager, young L Word female fans, yes I was expecting it to be slightly more mental than usual, but I wasn’t expecting this:
2 bouncers stopped me at the door. 1 of them was friendly and lovely. But the other, who, upon seeing my camera said that I “needed permission to take photographs” of “the band”. Then the manager who is working for the show’s promoter came over to me and asked for my press credentials, which is fair enough. I said I’m not here as a press-person, and I dont need a press pass because I’ve bought my ticket anyway. I’m here to attend the show as a regular attendee, but I brought my camera to take photos of the gig as a whole, especially The Horn The Hunt. He said, “well I need to check with the bands to see if it’s okay for photos to be taken of them”. And I was like, wait, you do know that every single gig-goer in here tonight will have digital cameras and camera phones taking photos all night. And this is the Brude. And he was like, “it’s because of your camera, it looks like a press camera.”
Does it? It’s a small Panasonic Lumix with a cheap medium-sized flash bolted on. That’s hardly press camera standards. But I didn’t want to argue. And I guess it’s his job anyway to make sure everything goes according to plan etc. And to be fair, if I didn’t like it, I could have just left. So I said, well, ok, that’s a waste. I’ve never heard of a show where the bands are uncomfortable about getting photographed at. And it’s not like I want to go backstage and schmooze and jump on the stage and be obnoxious with my camera like some press photographers I’ve seen. (Later on, post-show, I hung out with the guys from The Horn the Hunt at the bar and found out from Clare that her band infact wanted photos taken of themselves playing live.)
In the end, he allowed me take photos – as much as I want for The Horn The Hunt but only for the 1st three songs of UHH. Doesn’t make sense, but okay. It’s their show, you just have to respect their wishes and be professional about it and so that’s what I did.
Also, I cant help thinking it’s a bit presumptious to assume I’m only here to photograph the headlining act. I’ve been put on the guestlist to see Tegan & Sara in Camden and the experience was far more better than this. And then there’s the slew of other more established bands who playing at the Brude and it’s never been like that. You learn new things everyday I guess. Also I appreciate the fact that Leisha is a celebrity so to speak, so they have to be extra tight on security and stuff. Still, as a kid with a crap camera, attending the gig with a paid ticket, I’m hardly the papparazzi.
Anyway, enough whinging. Lets get on with the show:
The Horn The Hunt’s sound is much more fuller than I last remembered them to be at the countless of previous shows where I’ve gone to see them before. They’re now a four piece and the addition of Alice on guitars gives the band more depth. Clare’s voice is stronger than ever so it’s a shame that the sound that night was not the usual Brude standard. Something wasn’t quite right. The guitars were hardly audible, the bass was too loud and at one point the synths that was quiet at first suddenly drowned everything.
It’s strange that the sound was a bit off, I dont remember it to ever be like that at the Brude, but one shouldn’t always blame the venue for things like that – it could have been down to anything. Also, the crowd at the front was too preoccupied with their excitement to see UHH upclose on stage that they werent particularly paying attention to THTH which was a shame.
[The Horn The Hunt - Animal Magic]
[The Horn The Hunt - Lungs (LIVE BBC 1)
Uh Huh Her's set was okay. I think the sound let them down slightly. Or maybe they were tired - they've just played a show in Glasgow the day before and arrived in Leeds with just a few hours to spare before the gig started.
They played all my favorite songs, which was ace. Leisha, in her Poison tee, was really great on bass. Camila had a really strong stage presence even though most of the iphone cameras were on Leisha. 3 songs in, I packed my camera away as promised and tried to enjoy the rest of their set. So much for a huge lesbian turnout - the misogyny I've experienced from some of their so called fans was incredible.
[Uh Huh Her - Human Nature]
[Uh Huh Her - Explode]
My partner whom I came to the gig with had the misfortune of having to deal with this sizeable woman who was absolutely menacing and refused to let her pass through – trivial, and unnecessary. Would that woman have done that if my partner was less femme ? Some of the boyish female fans at the bar called their femme friends “sluts” and “slags”. During Uh Huh Her’s set, some people kept drunkenly yelling “take your top off” like repeatedly. Like, I know you’re excited babes, but chill the fuck out. Again, you gotta have hecklers at gigs, it’s unavoidable – it’s just uncharacteristic for this particular show. So it’s a pretty good thing that after the yelling continued for a good few times, Camila said into the microphone, “Why don’t you take your top off?”
Good on ya, luv.
Anyway Uh Huh Her continued with a short acoustic set and finished off with Common Reaction and by then I had to leave.
[Uh Huh Her - Same High]
I started off really excited about going to this gig and ended up being really disappointed. It’s one of those days I guess. Still, its an interesting experience.
>> View the rest of the photos here <<
Buy Uh Huh Her merch here.
Support The Horn The Hunt and buy their stuff here. They’re also playing at the awesome Ladyfest Bristol with other cool bands like my favorite, Shrag so go and check them out.
