Even iF we Fail

Tuesday 18th February: The Cobden Club, Westbourne Park

The Cobden Club, in darkest West London, is a velvet-clad cross between a Hammer Horror set and a brothel. Lights are dim, paint a gaudy red and fanged prostitutes lurk in every corner. So it is that even if we fail take the stage in trepidation.

As the opening chords rap in, it’s clear this isn’t going to be another ear-bleeding noise-fest. The dark walls seem to suck in sound, dulling the jagged edges of Ollie’s acoustic, forcing the band to play, rather than rage.

And play they do. You Will Not Die, Biscuit Wrapper and Bedsit Blues march in strict procession, ruthless, efficient, so tight they feel at breaking point. All Too Late is almost ethereal, wafting past like the ghost of a loved one; Bathroom Saga is a taut dub-out of domestic hell. With each tense vocal, each pinpoint tune, the band strengthens its grip, taming the dark spirits in the shadows, demanding unwavering attention.

And then, the gremlin’s last stand: the acoustic sputtering to silence during the opening to new song Fluffy. Ollie thrashes around for a minute or so like a neutered dog, before conceding defeat and grabbing an electric. Yet the band return energised and defiant.

Fluffy bursts back to life, reborn as a frenzied fuzz of distortion, the strongest nod yet to the Lord Cobain. God’s Great Earth is the Pixies riding waves of purest pop, but it’s finale Too Old/Too Young that does the damage. The heaviest even if we fail song yet, it’s an epic soundscape of screeching vocals and bullet guitar, punctuated at halfway with a melody so sweet it shocks. The crowd are left transfixed, mesmerised, winded. The creatures of the night have sloped back to hell.

Review by Rich Hoey

Set List - 18/02/2003

You Will Not Die * Biscuit Wrapper * Bedsit Blues * Back of Mind * All Too Late * Bathroom Saga * God's Great Earth * Fluffy * Too Old/Too Young

Gig number two was held in the Cobden club, a working men's club in Notting Hill. For those of you reading this who aren't familiar with the United Kingdom, a working men's club is a traditional sort of bar and restaurant where working class men would gather to discuss matters of mutual interest and drink a lot of beer. For those of you who aren't familiar with Notting Hill, it's the trendiest bit of the richest borough in the UK, even Madonna complained about the prices of houses, and it is very doubtful that many working class people could afford to live there. How fitting then, that a band that refuses to be categorised (but don't they all do that) should play in this paradoxical venue, with its high ceilings, town hall type stage and ciabatta with sun-dried tomatoes.

The beginnings were far from promising, Theo was incomunicado until fifteen minutes after the soundcheck, when he phoned to say he was on a bus and wasn't sure if he could make it. Happily the fates of London public transport and intraband miscommunication prevailed, and Theo managed to arrive just before the band were due to play their set, saving the Failures from using this reporter as a human beatbox.The set was going swimmingly, with their best number, Back of Mind, getting a good proportion of the crowd on their feet. The band looked more relaxed together than ever and the sound really came together.

Then, as in all the best films, disaster came again, with Ollie's guitar suffering an identical loss of voice, and one guitar salesman becoming in severe danger for his health. This time, however, the guy in the crowd with a guitar had opted for standard tuning, and echoing Bob Dylan's conversion in (whatever year it was, Ollie thinks I'm a complete shit now) Even if we Fail went Electric. By now seasoned veterans and close friends of the fuckup fairy, the Failures got back in the saddle straight away and played out the rest of the set in style. I'd say that more than one punter went home that evening having decided to dig out their old electric guitar and hammer out a few chords.

Review by Leon Markham

Sunday 19th January: The White Horse, Belsize Park

Dylan Possessed?

by Rich Hoey

The heavy buzz of expectation, a venue skewered through the heart of Hampstead Heath, a crowd, hopeful but anxious, waiting for the case to be made… On stage, folk-punkers even if we fail are wary-eyed but wired, skittering through opener ‘You Will Never Die’, then stuttering to a frozen moment filled by 50 beating hearts. Silence - shattered by a crash of acoustic abuse and obliterating drums, the sound of doubts torn asunder and trampled into the Hampstead earth. Ollie, like Dylan possessed, is a glowering presence of hard-edged vocals and wild stares. And so the songs flow.

‘Biscuit Wrapper’ and ‘Bedsit Blues’ snarl by in an instant, ‘Back of Mind’ bounds like a beachball, ‘All Too Late’ hovers like the promise of a kiss. Guitars fizzle, die and splutter back to life, but this is about so much more than the technology of sound. This is folk with the fluffy bits cut out – songs plucked on raw heartstrings. The finale, ‘God’s Great Earth’, is planets colliding, an intergalactic son et lumiere. And as the room drowns in distortion and applause, there’s a feeling of expectations fulfilled, anxieties dispelled. A feeling that the case has been made.

Set List - 19/01/2003

You Will Not Die * Biscuit Wrapper * Bedsit Blues * Back of Mind * All Too Late * Bathroom Saga * Mary * God’s Great Earth

The Failures' first gig, in The White Horse was universally acknowledged to be a triumph of human endeavour over technology. In the tricky acoustics of a cellar, the band's trademark sound had the whole room, if not jumping, then moving appreciatively in their seats while they sipped at their Guinnesses. In the middle of All Too Late however, disaster struck, with Ollie's guitar packing up and a frenzied attempt to locate another guitar (hopeless - the guy used a different tuning...) and then mic the guitar they already had. A shaken, but not stirred, Even If We Fail soldiered on through, managing to give a golden performance in the face of adversity. After the applause faded from the last song of their set ,God's Great Earth, the band quickly repaired to the bar to heal their frayed nerves.