VV Brown @ ULU, 23rd November 2009

Is variety the spice of life?

London was the closing night of VV Brown’s headline UK tour – having already been to her gig in Northampton this was the second time I had the opportunity to see the show. It was, however, the first time I got to see her sister, Jay Brown, open the proceedings. Jay’s music is a lot more conventional than her sister’s, and consisted of her and her (slightly out of tune) guitar. I think there is some promise there but she really needs to work on her stage presence and interaction with the audience as it kind of felt like she was playing in her living room and she hadn’t noticed that there were actually hundreds of people there.

The Stow were still pretty good and I look forward to hearing them commercially release some material. They went down really well with the crowd (even bearing in mind that this was their home gig) and they should do really well if they can find a niche for their music,

The same comment might apply to VV Brown herself. Her set was identical to the gig in Northampton, including the Crying Blood reggae version (apparently she only played in Northampton and London) but minus the fist pumping, so I won’t delve into that here. Interestingly there was a review in The Times of her performance at ULU – while the reviewer acknowledged that she was a great live performer, they were concerned about her lack of focus in terms of genres and styles. Now, for me this is one of the strengths of VV’s music – there is such a variety that you can’t get bored of it and it really demonstrates her love of music as a whole rather than being symptomatic of any lack of clear direction. I strongly believe that this should count in VV’s favour and certainly makes her (for me) much more interesting than many of he current crop of UK artists. But the point about being difficult to classify is an interesting one as I can see that it might make the radio stations a bit unsure to do with her.

I have been lucky enough to see VV play live 9 times this year for various reasons, and this probably helped my understanding and appreciation of her different musical styles, It’s fascinating to me that an industry that all the commentators seem to agree is moving away from album sales and back towards singles still demands that artists should confirm to one single style on their records in order to succeed. Changes of musical direction from album to album or in ‘side projects' is allowed and even acclaimed (Arctic Monkeys spring to mind,) but not on one individual album. Go figure.

If you want plaudits or commercial success I suppose what it comes down to more fundamentally is defining, understanding and serving your target market – whether that be critics or radio stations or the record buying public themselves. People need to understand your product if you want it to sell. But I guess it all depends how much you want to sell and how much you want to make the music you want to make. I for one really hope that VV continues to cut her own path – if her target market is me then she is so far meeting her customer's expectations quite nicely thank you very much!

VV Brown's debut album Travelling Like The Light, is out now

VV Brown @ The Roadmender Northampton, 6th November 2009

Travelling like the Northampton light

Having first seen VV Brown on a co-headline tour with Gary Go back in March, it was great to see her headlining her own tour, and even better to see her in her hometown of Northampton. And it was really nice to see how she has grown in confidence and performance since her sound issues at Bush Hall...

The venue in Northampton was full of friends and family, not least because the opening act (which I missed) was Jay Brown, VV's little sister. I arrived about half way through the second support act, The Stow, who won their place on tour via a competition in the Metro. The Stow seem to be a great new band in a style that I'm struggling to categorise - hip hop ska possibly? Anyway, they had 2 lead singers which in itself is quite unusual, and they complimented each other greatly. Their music was really upbeat and performed very slickly with great audience engagement - check out their myspace page and have a listen.

Anyway, it was time for the main event and after a short intro with the radio dial tuning effect VV opened with my favourite track from her album, Everybody. There's something about the beat in that song which is particularly awesome. She came onto a stage that was set as a dressing room wearing a HUGE mask covered in feathers and 'striking a pose'. The set included all the main songs from Travelling Like The Light, which is a great album that for some reason in the year of young female singers has failed to capture the imagination of the UK public in the same way as Lady Gaga, La Roux or even Little Boots. I can only put it down to a lack of radio play (shame on you Jo Wiley - support your Northampton brethren!) and that the songs are less obviously fashionable as the rest. VV's voice is pretty amazing, as she showcased with a cover of Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and miles better than any of the rest I mentioned.


VV's songs sound great on her album but really come alive in the flesh and you need to see them performed live to get the best out of them. VV herself seems to have got a whole lot more self assured since I first saw her back in March, and interacts a lot more comfortably withe the audience. It obviously meant a lot to her to be back in Northampton, which came out in an air-punching version of her biggest hit to date, Shark in the Water, when she urged the audience to believe in what they wanted to achieve. And it wasn't actually as cheesy as it sounds!

I have to make a mention of the fantastic band that VV plays with - Lewis on guitar, newcomer Charlie on the keyboard, John on drums and the magnificent music director Michael on bass. They are fantastic and also lovely people while being responsible for helping VV's songs jump up and grab you by the ears.

We were treated to the reggae version of Crying Blood as well as a fantastic cover version of Viva La Vida by Coldplay [should anyone of influence ever reads this PLEASE record it and put it on YouTube or something!!!].


It sounds like VV is off to the States in the new year so I was pleased to get my 'Quick Fix' in before she's off. From the sound of her new song Caroline, which is pretty aggressive and a slightly different sound again I have high hopes for album number 2.

VV Brown's debut album, Travelling Like The Light, is out now

VV Brown @ GAP, 10th September 2009

I love a good freebie - and this was definitely a good one.

What's not to love - a free gig with free food and free beer in a pop up GAP store with discounted jeans. OK, so none of the jeans were really my size (actually they may have been but unfortunately I can't speak American) but everything else was excellent.



VV Brown is not only "up and coming" (although I would argue that she's not coming up as quickly as she deserves to) and also in to her fashion so she was a good choice for GAP to open up their temporary store just off Carneby Street. A small but perfectly formed set showed off her vocal talents a treat, and her bass player is fantastic. Nice little opportunity to mingle afterwards with the cool crowd even though I looked anything but, and VV gets more self assured every time I see her. And if you haven't already, you should see her too.

VV Brown's debut album, Travelling Like The Light, is available now.

The Script @ Shepherds Bush Empire, 19th June 2009

Non-music-related eardrum damage


The Script were doing a 5 night residency at the SBE in London – I have to admit that I was surprised that they were able to sell out 5 gigs just coming off the back of a UK tour, but apparently I underestimated their fan base. I have a couple of friends who are huge fans of the Script and had been to a number of the nights and I joined them (at the front of the queue :-)) for the last gig of the run. The fans seemed to be mostly (but not exclusively) young and female and quite screamy being at the barrier was a bit of a mixed blessing – my ears were shot this time not from the volume of the music but the volume of the screaming…

Anyway, first things first. There were 2 support acts and this time I managed to catch both of them. The first was a band called Officer Kicks who I liked but they were probably a little bit too rocky for my tastes. The lead singer was pretty funny though and the bass player was certainly easy on the eye ;) and I enjoyed their set.


Next up quite randomly was my old friend VV Brown. I’d found out she was supporting earlier that week and her and her band turned in the best performance I’ve seen them do. If I’m honest, I was probably more excited to see them than The Script – I love their set and the songs demand that you dance around like a bit of a loony (and possible hand jive). VV did less in the way of percussion bashing and decided against shoes but her vocals sounded great. The band were as excellent as usual, although I had the embarrassment of the John the keyboard player recognising me (I have seen them 5 times now, but that’s not entirely my fault). Shark in the Water deserves to be a summer hit (it’s due out 6th July and you can see the video here), but my current favourite is Everybody – I’m really looking forward to the album coming out later in the year.


So now to the main event. I was particularly pleased to hear a song by The Feeling (it was Sewn in case you’re interested) on the filler music while we waited for The Script to come on, and even more pleased to hear the large group of girls behind me singing along – hurry up with the third album boys!! Sorry, got a bit distracted there. When The Script finally came on the reaction was huge – screaming, cheering, clapping… a huge wall of noise. Much of it was for the lead singer Danny (although I have to say that I thought he was more attractive on film than in person) – pants were thrown on stage and everything – and when he leapt into the crowd on the shoulders of one of his roadies (that man deserves a medal) I thought he was going to get torn apart.

I had only downloaded The Script’s album the week of the gig so I probably need to give it a few more listens but I definitely enjoyed the big singles – of which there are several – to their album tracks. My friend had said that they have a 59 minutes set and she’s pretty much right. As they have only released one album they don’t have a huge amount of material yet and I suspect their set will improve when they have a few more songs to choose from and they can drop some of the weaker numbers. However, they really rocked the house throughout and numbers like Breakeven and The Man Who Can’t Be Moved were fairly epic.

Throughout the gig all the members of the band kept saying how grateful they were to the fans and how much they appreciated their support, and they really looked like they meant it. It was unfortunate, then, that they sped out of the venue from another different door about 2 hours after the gig finished without stopping to say hi to the fans who had been waiting by the stage door. I understand that the band are usually excellent with their fans but I daresay that‘s not much consolation to the people who had been waiting. If they hadn’t been planning to come out then they could have easily sent someone out earlier to tell the fans and there would have been no harm done. As it was they apparently received some boos and upset some kids, which doesn’t sound very clever to me. I had already dashed off by this point to catch my last train but I wouldn’t have been best pleased.

Despite that I have to say that I enjoyed the gig and the band are great musicians. I would definitely see them again and I wish they were supporting Take That when I see them instead of Lady GaGa, but I guess you can’t have everything.

The Script’s debut album is out now

VV Brown @ Selfridges, 29th May 2009

OK, first things first – how annoying is it that this gig happened in May but my blog will only let me post it in June!!?!?? Well never mind, hopefully the title will help to communicate the fact that it was part of Musical May, even if it was a late and unexpected addition.

I first saw VV Brown as part of her joint headline tour with Gary Go earlier this year and although I wasn’t sure about her music from a brief peruse of MySpace (where it was almost impossible to make friends with her – go figure), her live set was enough to convince me that she is a really interesting talent. Well, that and the fact that she hails from Northampton – posh Northampton I would like to point out, but Northampton none the less. She was one of the artists tipped to make a big impact in 2009, along with her singer/songwriter brethren Little Boots, Florence and The Machine, La Roux and Lady GaGa, but has yet to bother the UK charts. As with a lot of the new artists around at the moment, she has her finger in many a creative pie, including a vintage fashion line and a comic book as well as a sideline in modelling – you get the picture that she is generally too cool for school.

I was hoping to get to see her again and when I found out quite late on that she was playing in store as part of Selfridges 100 year anniversary it was a bit of a no brainer. Playing the basement of a department store under bright lights on a warm Friday evening is probably not ideal, but VV and her excellent band, who deserve a special mention for being thoroughly nice chaps, did a great job. The crowd that had gathered beforehand were obviously VV fans and friends and therefore too cool to relax into the show (I obviously didn’t have that problem), and they were joined by people with shopping bags mid-shop once the gig started, so there wasn't a great atmosphere from the get go. Despite this, VV and the band pulled a great little set out of the bag, including the following (I think the order is a bit off but as we are in a whole new month now it’s not surprising I’ve forgotten ;-)

Crying Blood
Everybody
Leave
L.O.V.E.
Bottles
Game Over
Shark in the Water
Crying Blood (reggae mix)



The sound engineers at Selfridges also deserve an honourable mention as the sound was great and I imaging that a shop doesn’t have the best acoustics to start with. In fact, the sound set up was significantly better than when I saw her perform at Bush Hall in March, where the sound engineer should have been fired on the spot for her having zero mic volume at the start of the set - perhaps we should be looking at retail outlets as being the training ground for sound engineers of the future. Just a thought…

Anyhoo, the set went down well considering the environment and VV and her band were all in good spirits. The songs are insanely catchy and are a new take on pop with ska undertones – Bottles, L.O.V.E. and Shark are the standout tracks for my money. VV herself is almost impossibly tall, thin, beautiful and “fashion forward” (I’ve watched too many episodes of Project Runway) and she looked amazing as well as sounding the best I’ve heard her. On the encore version of Crying Blood her vocal was pretty darn amazing – see for yourself (the sound doesn't help but it gets better in the middle):



VV’s music cries out to be played on a summer evening so I’m hopeful that new single Shark in the Water, which is due out July 7th, will pick up more radio play than previous singles Crying Blood and Leave. She’s also doing the rounds of the festivals including the main stage at Glasto so she has a great opportunity to getting her music out there. Her chances of success are, in my very humble opinion, slightly dented by the attitude that radiates off her on her Twitter updates (sample: "is angry when people think that this project is contrived.. thanks to all those who support us and come to our gigs and see that its not."), and her blog, where a tirade against a thread on an internet chat room was removed not long after she posted it, both of which suggest that she is carrying a huge chip about something or other. Incidentally I read the thread and there wasn’t anything for her to get upset about – it was actually mostly positive and in terms of criticism I’ve seen MUCH worse. If she is successful I’m guessing that she will have diva tendencies, but then which of the great female singers don’t? [EDIT: Kylie and Annie Lennox spring to mind on reflection, but you get the gist]. Also, she needs the big radio break, and I just hope that the attitude doesn’t stand in the way of that.

In summary, I love VV Brown’s music – I am borderline obsessed with Shark at the moment – and she and her band put on a great live show. The only problem is that I’m not sure I like VV herself that much – and that likability factor can go a long way.

VV Brown’s next single, Shark in the Water, is out 7th July