Sunday 31st July 06 - Benefit Gig at Staks Bar (4/8) By Joe Hakim Photos By Roland Standaert

(1/8), (2/8), (3/8), (4/8), (5/8), (6/8), (7/8), (8/8).

Photograph Gallery   Gallery 1,    Gallery 2,    Gallery 3.

No one argues, because she's right. And who fuckin' needs drums for that matter, anyway? They finish off with In A Moment, a huge haunting track that stays in your brain long after you've heard it. No other band at the minute combines soft melodic riffs and passages with loud sweeping sections quite as effectively as The Favours. I could waffle on with pointless comparisons about Blondie and The Breeders, but the truth is that their song dynamic has more in common with a group like Nirvana. As you can see, I struggle to describe their sound, but that's because it's new.

People are still pouring in. They may have missed are couple of storming sets but there's more coming up.

The mood of the afternoon is interrupted by the shit state of the modern world at large. Everyone's happy and enjoying themselves, so the shit side of Hull has to go and emerge just to remind us that it's still there lurking. The 59 Violets arrive, and they leave their car unattended for just two little minutes. And guess what? Some scum sucking fuckers have to go and try and break in. They don't get anything but that's not the point. It's broad daylight, a benefit gig no less, yet they have a go anyway. I'm struggling, oh Lord, I'm struggling. I'm trying to be positive - I'm trying to help create something, but I have to ask myself: is there any point?

Up until a couple of months ago my mission was to write about the underbelly of Hull - pikey sites, crackheads, whores and townie violence. I was confronted with this shit all the time because of where I lived, the people I knew and the place I worked.

Recently, I was offered the chance to write about some bands and gigs and stuff, and I turned up to a couple of gigs and I quickly realised that there was actually something going on. It wasn't just a couple of bands and their mates. It was a shit load of bands and a shit load of mates, and sometimes you can't separate the two. A few weeks in and I realise that this isn't just about the bands. There are the people that support and manage the bands.

There are the pubs and clubs and DJs that showcase and promote them. There are the artists and photographers that design the CD sleeves and the websites. There are the studio owners that rehearse and record the bands. And then there are the residual things, like clothes shops and music shops and galleries, all springing up right here in Hull. And there was me resigned to fact that Hull's cultural landscape resembled the area surrounding Chernobyl...

The continuous reflective (possibly schizophrenic) state that I keep sliding into abates once again as The Applewhites take to the stage, and I'm pleased to say that it's another shot of the good stuff. They're wearing the sort of clothes that I would never get away with and they're loud and fast. They blast out Old Routine, their first track, and it's clear from the off that they are heading straight for the classic sharp modish Brit sound - rolling Bruce Foxton bass lines topped with a Rickenbacker twang.

Their second song I Hate You is a bit more knockabout, complete with a breakdown that The Clash would've been proud of. They follow it with Don't and Change, songs which combine Beach Boys style harmonics with a rawer, angular guitar. Throw Me a Line and He's Feeling Low bring back the skittery beat and give a nod towards post-Pistols PiL. They really find their feet at this point, flinging their hair around and striking poses for the girls stood around the stage.

Continued..... Next Page (5/8)

Check the thisisUll.com Gallery Photographs courtesy and Copyright ©  Roland Standaert 2005

Photograph Gallery   Gallery 1,    Gallery 2,    Gallery 3.

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