EUROS CHILDS | LIVE REVIEW
Transport Club, Cardiff, Thurs 16 Nov
The carpet at Riverside’s Transport Club is patterned with brown and beige geometric shapes, squiggly radio wave-like lines and an explosion of miniature orbs in a welcoming vermillion hue. It’s a fairly new place for bands in Cardiff and the brainchild of a local bus driver on the Transport Club Committee who saw the potential the upstairs space had for live music. To him I offer a sincere ‘cheers, drive’ – his foresight proved fortuitous for the eager audience here to see Euros Childs, formerly of Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, showcase his excellent new album, House Arrest.
On this current tour, Euros is accompanied by Rosie Smith, also known as Oh Peas!, who throughout the set adds some Mo Tucker flourishes and much more besides. Before Euros took to the stage, a hushed anticipation filled the air replacing the space where the cigarette smoke used to linger, people only breaking the silence to whisper about being able to drink Caffreys again and wondering whether the bloke near the front in the sheepskin coat used to be in the Flaming Lips.
In front of a backdrop of bright stars and later on a modest light show that gently mocked Jean Michel Jarre, Euros gave a Casio spin around the new album. Highlights included My Colander – which resembled Gorky’s Poodle Rockin’ but on benefits and all the better for it – plus the darkly comic Happy Coma, which contained an organ solo that was a perfect soundtrack to the bawdy seaside postcode art of the Transport Club gents’ toilets.
I’m A Yellow Bag, from the First Cousins album, was also welcome, likewise Henry A Matilda Supermarketsuper from Bore Da. While fully testing his keyboard batteries to the limit, the ghosts of Gorky’s past crawled over the wet beermatted tables around us as Euros produced a brief simulacrum of those lovely psychedelic wigouts that used to terrify and transfix. Much like the Transport Club’s mind-expanding carpet beneath our feet.
words SCOTT PARSONS photos EMMA LEWIS