THEM DEAD BEATS | LIVE REVIEW
Undertone, Cardiff, Sun 11 Oct
Their music can be and has been described as filthy, raw, vigorous – a thunderstorm of blues and garage rock, and they earn this reputation with each set they play. This night was no different, sending the cellar dwellers of Undertone into a frenzy like your favourite five-piece band initiating a take over of the O2 Arena, and yet there are only two of these guys.
No time for a build up, only through word of mouth because these boys do not waste a second getting things started. Black clouds gather quickly. Gallivan’s pounding rhythms emulate the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius; everybody’s paying attention but this time nobody wants to run and each twang from Taylor’s guitar is a lightening strike zapping life into everyone in the place. Contagious enthusiasm for what they do, and do really bloody well might I add, projects onto the crowd and the crowd project it right back at them. Heads are banging, feet are stomping and bodies are swaying in an imperfect unity.
Drummer Rhys Gallivan fights every urge in his body to not jump from behind his kit and into the crowd to join in. If it didn’t mean leaving behind front man and partner in mayhem, Matt Taylor, then he probably would. Actually, scratch that – Matt isn’t the front man, neither is Rhys. They deserve far more credit than that. They’re a bona fide duo. This is the Riggs and Murtaugh of garage rock – you want to see them both. They are in this together and it shines through with their stage presence.
Taylor’s raspy vocals, which are perfectly captured on tracks such as Pop & Stop, give you a reason to listen not only to the music but his words; his whiskey-washed, tobacco-toked voice sounds like that of a man who has walked the earth and seen some things. Meanwhile, Gallivan’s organized chaos on songs like Sharpshooter reaches into the most lifeless of people and gives them a reason to get up and get moving. With these elements combined, it isn’t any wonder their music stays stuck in your head for days and days afterwards. And if you haven’t been fortunate enough to hear them play, do yourself a favour and be there for the next thunderstorm.
words and photo DEAN GLYN MORRIS