REVIEW: ALCOPOP RECORDS CHRISTMAS PARTY AT THE SILVER BULLET, LONDON
You gotta love indie record labels. The whole vibe and ethos is envigorating, in a world where tripe like X Factor and shit compilation CDs dominate. We’ve been big fans of the Oxford-based Alcopop for a while now. And not just because, we do indeed, love alcopops.
This takeover of the awesomely underrated Silver Bullet, opposite Finsbury Park tube station, proved a big hit. The bill included some of the label’s rising stars, including Gunning for Tamar, Freeze The Atlantic and The Social Club. All three acts commanded the stage like they themselves were silver bullets (see what I did there?!). Groan.
The Social Club absolutely nailed it. Their Weezer-esque indie-rock was full of energy and girth. The cheeky grin of the frontman and the undeniable personalities of the rest of the band made for compelling watching. And where their predecessors struggled to get the crowd moving (much to the disgust of one of the dreadlocked regulars), there wasn’t a still bod in the house for The Social Club. We’ll be seeing/hearing much more from them in 2012 no doubt. A welcome addition to the current music climate.
In between the sets on the main stage there was a less-than impromtu busking set from My First Tooth frontman Ross Witt (one of the main draws for us). Armed with a guitar, harmonica and some sweet ass vocals, his one-man-band efforts were very well received. He played a couple of My First Tooth favourites, including the apt Sleet and Snow as well as ending on a cover of The Eels’ Everything’s Gonna Be Cool this Christmas, during which he made use of the beautiful vocals of Katie Malco, who had played a solo set earlier that night (which we shamefully missed).
Add in some custom-made santa hats (courtesy of Bristol’s Oxygen Thief), plenty of booze and some top tunes from the decks and this was a kick ass Christmas party. Love Alcopop.
Words: Laura Williams
