Mongrel: Stoke Sugarmill: 5-02-09
When a band includes such esteemed modern musicians as John Mclure, (Reverend and the Makers) Drew Mconnell (Babyshambles) and Matt Helders (Artic Monkeys) you know it’s something special. Add to that the cream of British Hip-hop, Low-key and Paris-1 and you have a collective that can’t fail. For a Sunday evening and a group that only have two songs officially released the audience numbers are pleasingly high.
Mongrel, despite a majority of the band members deriving from the indie scene, this band owes more to Dizzee Rascal than The Courteeners, (despite the fact that indie kids make up a large number of the audience). Their songs skilfully fuse together a variety of music styles, jazz, soul and rap to create a truly unique style that the audience savour.
From the moment the band steps onto the stage it becomes clear that not only does the band have a message to tell, but this is also a project they love. They bring bottles of beer on to drink (Female rapper Paris-1 spent the entire set with a drink in her hand) and banter to themselves in between songs. This makes a refreshing change from the polished un-personal performances that so many artists favour these days. John Mclure is the bands ring-leader, attempting to make the mainly young audience feel passionate about issues such as racism, persecution and fascism.
The group stormed through a 40 minute set that included songs such as ‘Barcode’ (about identity cards) and ‘Menace’ (a song that suggests politicians are all extreme fundamentalists). If this is what the band can deliver in the live arena it shows huge potential for their forthcoming album, ‘Better than Heavy’. Although the performances were flawless and their charisma effervescent, at times the messages they were trying to get across to the audience did come seem as a bit full on. This was most obvious when the crowd were urged to sing “Free free Palestine”, a very bold political statement that it would be safe to say very few of the audience would have been informed enough to make.
Particular mention however must also go to London-based rapper Low-key whose ability to rap and rhyme words from any letter of the alphabet (including x and z) was nothing short of awe-inspiring.
Words: Kevin Angel
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