Cardiacs with The Wildhearts Dec 2004
Tonight sees a gig that is pretty special. Not only are the Wildhearts doing a greatest hits set (tracks chosen by the fans on their website), but they have also convinced their friends CARDIACS to support them. Both bands worthy of headline slots in their own right.
Cardiacs take to the stage. A band that my friend has been raving about for years, but I never really paid attention, due to the fact that the other bands he raves about as much are ANTHRAX and MARILLION. Imagine Tim Burton. Gordon Ramsay. Cameron from hollyoaks and Fred Elliot singing you cant catch me by rupert the bear and you might have an idea of what they sound like. The fucked up offspring of jello biafra and mr bungle. On helium. Half the crowd were going mental for them, the other half were standing around with big grins on their faces, knowing they have discovered a new band to obsess over. Apparently they didn’t play any songs off their last three albums, and most of the set was comprised of songs recorded pre-1991. Tarred & Feathered, Is This The Life, and Big Ship are fantastic songs, and after they finished, I, along with what seemed like half of the people with big grins all wandered over to the merch stand to see what was on offer. People were confused as to which of the SIXTEEN or so albums they had to buy. a lot seemed to be buying their live album, which I guess would be a reasonable place to start discovering the band…
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Cardiacs/The Wildhearts
Manchester Dec 10th 2004
Patrons of the reasonably priced Student Union bar nearly choked on their beer, as the rapturous reception given to The Cardiacs will have implanted the notion in their mind that the main band had sauntered on to stage early. This evening’s display of Surrey formed, Orchestral Ska metal punk evoked a mixture of exuberance and compelled stares from the numerically rising Manchester crowd. Ever since their first official recording; 7 inch single “A Bus For A Bus On The Bus” hit people’s ear drums; The Cardiacs have been the epitome of musical exuberance, with their stoic resistance to industry norms having won them much praise and respect. Indubitably, tonight was no different.
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Cardiacs Dec 2004
Taking to the stage to what sounded like an accordion on speed, a bored-looking session drummer (actually Steve Gilchrist, drummer for Graham Coxon) and a guitarist who evidently modelled his stage persona on Yahoo Serious were joined by what I assume to be the two remaining original members, stylishly attired in suits and ties and East End gangster overcoats. They bowed to the audience, strapped on guitar and bass, then launched into a set that was equal parts punk and pomp, full of songs featuring what had to be the most complex time signatures ever written.
The lead singer, looking a little like Sting on steroids, screeched and shouted out the scattershot lyrics, occasionally taking one hand away from his guitar to hit himself on the head; while on his left, the bald-headed bass player barely moved at all. In between the high-speed punk numbers were bombastic tracks that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Muse album – overall the closest comparison I think I can make would be to Primus, with whom The Cardiacs seem to share a love of ridiculous lyrics, bizarre instrumentation and mind-bending time changes. Brilliant – go and download some of their sampler MP3 tracks now.