British India @ The Borderline - 9.19.08

British India – I didn't unfortunately make any notes when I saw them back in September (damn I'm late!), but I wanted to make sure I wrote a little something about them, as well as posted a few photos and hopefully (if the blogger gods of video uploading acquiesce) a bit of video as well.

They played a smallish venue in London (alfacinha's first international gig – Whoo-hoo!), of comparable size to NYC's Mercury Lounge. The boy and I got there uber early. He'd checked out the starting times, but I guess London gigs work like Bowery gigs, times are only a mere suggestion, and nowhere close to reality. We hung about for an hour or so and managed a pretty sweet spot a few people away from the stage.

The crowd seemed to be made up of quite a few friends, possibly of the band. Everyone seemed to know each other, except for us and some people behind us. The band is made up of some very young guys from Australia. Really young :o)

dig me the great young River Phoenix tee - brought back some teenage memories :o)

They were great though. Really threw themselves into their craft and played their hearts out…unfortunately their amps didn't follow along. They'd played maybe a third of their set, when they realize that one of the amps didn't work at all. They tried to cope and hung about on stage for a bit, but eventually the lead singer went offstage to leave their roadie to figure things out. Have I mentioned that this was their first London gig? :o) But hey, it's rock'n'roll. It wouldn't be much fun if everything always went right. We were left to stare at broken amps and the people who care for them for quite a bit - probably almost an hour or so if I recall correctly.




But they eventually managed to jerryrig something together and continued playing. Their energy was fucking amazing. To compare them to the Sex Pistols and the Clash is a bit trite, but they've certainly got that early punk sensibility. Songs were incredibly catchy, they were very passionate, and unlike other bands I could think of (but won't name), they didn't just pussy out when something went wrong. They did the best they could with what was available and kept on going, not wanting to disappoint their fans.

I'd recently fallen for them through my boy's advice, but seeing them live and watching how much they put of themselves into their performance, I became a complete convert and try to push them on to anyone who'll listen. Thanks for a great show guys and I hope to see you in NYC very soon!