General Fiasco, HMV Kentish Town Forum, November 19th
General Fiasco supported the Enemy at HMV Kentish Town Forum
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By James Christie
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Monday, 23, Nov 2009 03:38
It's been almost a year since I first saw General Fiasco play when they performed at the intimate Union Chapel in Islington, north London.
On that occasion it was a short acoustic set supporting the Stereophonics for Jo Whiley's Little Noise Sessions. At the time it was one of their biggest gigs to date and they absolutely stormed it, winning plenty of new admirers, especially the female section of the seated crowd.
Fast forward 356 days (I counted) and the boys are back in London, this time as the main support attack for those northern crusaders the Enemy. The crowd is initially disappointingly sparse as they take to the stage around 8:30pm but it's not long before they've got those present nodding along to captivating Something Sometime.
Watching them play there is something instantly attractive about lead singer and bassist Owen Strathern. His apparent shyness in communicating with the crowd plus the sweet way in which he urges punters to pick up their CD, all the while talking from behind the mop of hair parted across his face, makes him very likeable indeed. Throw in that Irish accent and my female companion for one was ready to rush the stage and devour him.
While Owen provides the impressive vocals, his younger brother Enda provides the real thumping sound of the band. Searing guitar solos feature in almost every tune on the night which while initially well-received became a tad formulaic and predictable as the set went on. The brother's school friend Stephen Leacock on the drums was also a little guilty of repetition with the pedal drum making a few too many appearances on its own building towards each song's climax.
These are trivial faults though as the boys' set was something of a minor triumph. Songs such as We are Foolish went down well and by the time they reached their storming finale Rebel Gets By they had the vast majority of the Forum rocking. At the moment their sound is a little too similar to that of the View, the Pigeon Detectives and perhaps even their touring buddies the Enemy.
However, let them get that debut album out there and start carving out their own niche and you can expect big things from this lot. Definitely ones to be watched.
Richard James