It’s with a curious sense of snobbery that bands in any way connected to televisions tampering, are met. Sometimes justified, sometimes quite beautifully, not.
Thankfully, for the sakes of personal sanity, Envy and Other Sins fall into the latter. In the relatively claustrophobic blood red walls of the Buffalo Bar, its hard to believe that these are the bodies that graced the nations screens on Channel 4’s Mobile Act Unsigned show and as they play to a crowd not much stronger than 40 – your upturned nose won’t last for long.
Although it isn’t necessarily the scene, Envy appear to be tonight’s messengers from the Victorian ages, with mentions of regal calls, paupers and the dashing waistcoat complete with pocket watch chain that Ali Forbes sports. Intelligently written and scattily presented, anyone that can construct Carpe Diem and Rubicon into one song gets my vote, although I doubt it’s a soft drinks reference. ‘Man Bites God’ is reminiscent of early Blur brushing past the Super Furry Animals on their way to meet the queen. Call it pop, but there certainly is more of a nod towards the Britpop age of the 90’s than todays electro weighted versions. So don your baggy tweed trousers and burn your skinny fit jeans at the stake if you dare.
Support act, Bang Bang Club make a lot of noise for one keyboard and two microphones, almost rocking the stuffed pheasant on stage, off his perch.
Unfortunately it sounds more like a twenty-minute reference to 70’s garage rock and if they haven’t called upon The Velvet Underground somewhere, I’ll never eat a banana again. You can’t claim they’re not entertaining though, as the Jagger-esque singer prowls the stage like a caged tiger, smashing his tambourine on the floor before marching off to the toilets before the last tracks even finished. Absolute gold.
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