Easter Bunnies

Having both bottled out of a Thursday night meet up (Goat Girl at ICA being sold out) I peruse the Windmill listings for Saturday and see Surprise Guests with an image of the black midi jump suit so snap up a couple of tickets for myself and Simon. Within a couple of hours it's sold out. Meeting outside Simon is chatting to a kid who's turned up without a ticket so I tell him to check out Reddit as I saw a couple of people selling tickets (face value) and saw that it's Geordie Greep with a new band and sounds. On the door there's a couple desperately trying to persuade the usual door guy to let them in best he offers is come back at 11.15 and see if people haven't turned up. Rabbitfoot are soon on. A 5 piece with drums, Moog synth (supplying great bass lines), guitar, cello (violin replacement apparently which Simon finds out in chatting with the cellist, note smaller than a double bass) and vocals. Firstly, they are a great band with a wide range of musical styles with the singer having a fair bit of chat to us audience which I always like in a band. The vocalist jumps between spoken word, including introducing songs and tells us she's taken her shoes off so the mic is a bit high as she wears docs, singing and near shouting. They're reminiscent of Patti Smith in that regard. Not the shoes and mic bit. Musically, well, where shall I start. Salsa, indie, post punk, art punk, twangy new wave, jazz, funk and a disintegration into extreme syncopation indeed post music worthy of Alternative TV nay the Good Missionaries. That is high praise indeed. They are great. We are exhorted to dance raising our feet off the ground, both together that is which we probably would if we had the same space as our singer, who  has some great moves straight out of the late free festival handbook, but we are all jigging about down the front. Great musicians of course to cover such a range of styles so seamlessly. Some great classic big endings to songs too. Shall I say great again. And they have a theme tune about rabbits and hares which from what I could gather don't have a great time of it. Worth the 7 quid alone. Simon and I retire to the garden to get somewhere to sit and so miss a fair bit of Endless Digital Birthdays set. They seemed popular but from the back of the room, those who know the Windmill will know it's possibly the worst layout for crowded gigs which is another reason it's so fabulous that it's impossibly the best venue, anyways from our position they sound like post heavy metal grunge proggie band with a little bit of quiet gothiness and I'm not totally committed to getting any nearer to them. Maybe another time not straight after an eclectic set. Henry Coke is something else again giving us an atmospheric set with guitars in a James Blake sort of vibe by the way see his views on streaming platforms (Blake not Coke). We stay in our place on the edge of the dancefloor, such as it is, and Geordie Greep goes back and forth past us a few times for some reason before taking the stage. Wondering if he'll depart a lot from the black midi sound I'm not sure he does. It''s a great set which is to be expected. I am hesitant to say they they are too much like bmbmbm as that band seem to jump genres and vibes live at will and frequently so un-pigeon-hole-able anyway. Greep and band deliver a great set a lazy comparison would be black midi. Ha! Greep's main band is obvious but I think this set is jazzier in that post punk jazz funk sort of way with a lot of guitar work. If you are a Frank Zappa fan then go see Greep cos no one else will make ya Sheik Yerbouti like Greep and the Gang. We are treated by a guest appearance by Shag (due to my poor hearing possibly not his name although Geordie did shout out his name a few times to get him on stage and internet searching "shag band london" throws up a fair few suspect sites) to sing a song he wrote. A great night had by all and kudos to Greep for playing his first gig with a new band at the Windmill as I'm sure he could have filled much bigger venues and for getting on the bill three up and coming bands as befits the Windmill. Some you like, some you don't, and often the latter you catch another time and enjoy.

Rabbitfoot

Rabbitfoot standin strings

Rabbitfoot the whole lot, just

EDB, honest

Henry Coke

Geordie

Greep