Bluejuice @ Amplifier 06/06/09

Mon 8th Jun, 2009 in Gig Reviews

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Sole supporting act, The Scotch of Saint James began the night with their strong rock authority. Reminiscent of the classic days of rock with clear influences from rock legends such as Pink Floyd and The Who, particularly with their twanging guitars and track endings, it was a great tribute to how rock was always meant to sound.
The first few tracks were unplugged, connecting the audience through the beat. The guitars ranged from melodic progressions to fast ripping riffs which gave each song a different edge leaving no room for boredom. Their sound matched the moody expressions on their faces and took the audience into an addictive circular spin.
Despite their awkward comments between songs The Scotch of Saint James gave a professional quality performance and it was refreshing to hear some actual pure rock music. Their debut album Vigilante Neck Tie Party will be released in August this year.
Someone seriously needs to give this band a comedy show; flying onto the stage next were five highly energetic, slightly drunk musical geniuses; Bluejuice. The crowd was wild for these guys -and their music. The two front men, Jake Stone and Stav Yiannoukas were two great balls of energy; never stopping, never slowing and using shots donated by the crowd to fuel their fire. Bluejuice have been labelled with many different tags, from electro-hip-hop-rock to disco-Japanese-classic-rap. The point is that you don’t want to pin them down -just get up and dance like no-one’s watching because they are.

With sweat everywhere and water spraying into the crowd Bluejuice performed songs from Problems and introduced The Devil, Medication and Facelift from their recently (and finally) recorded album. They played “old shit, but it’s still relevant” (__Unemployed__ ) and when The Reductionist started up its oriental – œturning Japanese’ intro, the audience riled up, energetically infected by the band.
The packed bar was constantly jumping, dancing, singing but it was the hilarious comments between tracks which made the night that much more brilliant. As one guy got sent out for smoking, the dynamic duo caught him out, “Who’s smoking marijuana in here? …This ain’t a Snoop Dog show!” Showing how much they really care about what anybody thinks; “if you have any complaints there’s a complaint box by the door”.
As Vitriol started up, the crowd started screaming. Yiannoukas yelled “jump if you want” but really there wasn’t much choice as the entire crowd started jumping wildly throwing their arms up for them and after one girl made it onto the stage, at least half the crowd raided the stage and the band could only barely be heard from behind the mass of people occupying the stage. As the song ended, security had to take down some overstaying. Stone’s stage antics included him diving into the crowd, chatting to, and sometimes licking, the audience and Yiannoukas’ brooding wild eyed stare and casual demeanour provided the entertainment and the personal touch of the performance. James Hauptmann’s drums, the sly smiling Jamie Cibej’s bass and the crazy, fast-fingered Jerry Craib on keys had the audience dancing non-stop.

Bluejuice proved it’s not what you do but the way that you do it, not how you look but how you sound. Their music is a crazy, impossible mix creating a sound which may be found elsewhere, but Bluejuice do it better -and with a hundred times more enthusiasm. They didn’t finish up the night with an encore but the crowd made the most of the last song, from the goofy, insane -but brilliant hip-hop-electro-dance-rock band.
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