Feb 2006

Bitterscene, Chelmsford

In amongst the footballer's wives, and beer boys of Essex, lies a gem of a disco that will dispel all worries of stilettos and tracksuited men racing their cars across the streets. Welcome to indie Essex.

Why tonight? Tonight the club celebrates its fifth birthday. To mark the occasion, The Broken Family Band will be playing twisted nuggets of country joy, and local boys Bendigo Tennyson get a chance to thrash out their Grandaddy-esque anthems. This means dressing up like a yokel from Midwest America would be ideal.

What music will I hear? Imagine Stuart Murdoch from Belle & Sebastian made you a mix-tape. Sixties mod numbers, French pop, girl groups and indie obscura. The night was in fact inspired by B&S's famed Bowlie Weekender, three days of indie kids getting mashed on cider, playing football and plaiting hair at Pontine's back in 1999. The club plays a Fall song every night, and plans to run until they're out of songs. So that's at least 50 more years.

What other bands have played? Half of the Smiths (Joyce and Rourke), plus Pure Reasons Revolution, who sold the club out and played to a baying, yet polite, crowd. Holly Golightly, Bromheads Jacket and Motormark have also gone down a treat.

Leave thinking? Must. Buy. More. Cardigans.

Leonie Cooper

Feb 2006

On Wednesday 22nd February 2006 a little club playing indie, French pop, northern soul, the less beardy side of alt-country and powerpop celebrated its 5th Birthday. Not necessarily unusual in itself, but when you consider it’s in Chelmsford, Essex, outside of festival season you realise it is both a promoter unaware of the local taste and a labour of love.

The bitterscenesters would be the first to tell you it started out as a glorified hobby but then good taste in visiting acts has permeated the local community. Butterflies Of Love were the first act I saw there, a fantastic but relatively unknown group from the States, and it wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration to say that the band and their entourage outnumbered the crowd. They are symbolic of the calibre of artiste that graces the tiny Bassment bar venue the last Wednesday of each month.

Initially seemingly tied in with Track & Field, and Fortuna Pop occasionally, but pre-My Space, you could still rely on the acts being at worst average. Crossing the genres, Piney Gir has played in many incarnations and other acts have been as diverse as the electro-grime of Motormark to the whimsical acoustic meanderings of The Crimea. Financially the collective cannot have made money for a lengthy period and even then any monetary gains only meant the following month's crowd were spoilt.

The main reason for the praise is because here are people who rather than moan about the lack of local gigs have swallowed the cost of a few trips to the capital each month and staged their own. Not all the line-ups have been faultless, this is normally due to their championing of local acts, but it’s never much of a risk attending.

The Broken Family Band are the headline act in a 100 capacity venue for their birthday party, it’s a present from the promoters once again as they refuse to charge more than a £5 entrance fee.

If every town had people so willing to offer their educated tastes on the masses local scenes would be all the healthier, praise is due for this. Top 12 acts of the last 5 years:

1. Holly Golightly
2. Butterflies Of Love
3. And What Will Be Left Of Them?
4. Viva Stereo
5. Kicker
6. Piney Gir
7. Saloon
8. M.A.S.S.
9. Souls Vibrating In The Universe
10. Vinny Peculiar
11. Bromheads Jacket
Joint 12. The Loves / Long Blondes

James Amner