Who needs to think when your feet just go...?

Blogs are pretty self indulgent at the best of times aren’t they? ‘Everybody listen to me while I talk about my favourite things…you’ve probably not heard of them because I am so cool and you are just a subterranean worm with no musical knowledge whatsoever and one day I’ll write for Rolling Stone…and maybe get a date for the prom’…or something.

Anyhoo, I’ve deviated so far from my initial aim of providing interesting Alt Rock, PowerPop and Paisley Underground stuff, this post should shock no-one, but I really want to share something with you…or should I say ‘Y’all’ in honour of Chris Frantz? Award yourself a pat on the back if you got the song from the lyric atop this post. Yep it’s ‘Genius Of Love’ by the frankly marvellous, oh-my-God-are-they-still-going?-tastic Tom Tom Club. They are still gigging and I saw them in Birmingham last Tuesday night. They were stunning. Great playing, cool songs, great rapport with the audience and loads of cheesy grins. In spite of the fact that there was between 150-200 people present at a venue that can hold 5 times that amount (people of Birmingham, where the hell were you???) the band really seemed to enjoy playing and were genuinely grateful for the reaction they received from the small but uber-partisan crowd. And their DJ was called Kid Ginseng, who I was convinced was being announced as Kid JENSEN. That made me laugh quite a lot. (Foreign readers may wish to refer to Wikipedia for clarification…)

There were lots of really great moments, including when the still lovely Tina Weymouth’s bass amp died – rather than get involved a stroppy superstar sulk, the band had a quick question and answer session with the crowd where they showed impressive local knowledge. I like that in a band. Everyone left feeling uplifted and smiling. Now, I don’t want to badmouth a band, especially one whose records I really love, but the opposite was true of a Fleet Foxes show I attended recently. The playing was great and the harmonies stellar, but there was no interaction or engagement with the audience and they all to a man looked as if they’d rather be anywhere but on stage. I appreciate their music may not lend itself to a Styx-esque stage performance, but jeez guys, make a goshdarn effort!

Well anyway, just to remind you how great they are, here’s ‘Genius Of Love’ from their awesome debut album...yes yes y'all!