If you've got no kind words to say...

The thing about being in a band is you get to see a lot of other bands, and many of the bands i see are at best nondescript, at worst downright terrible. Every now and then i come across bands that hold my attention for more than 5 minutes. This week i came across two. The first was the opening band in Cambridge, a band i had never heard, knew nothing about, and didn't know what to expect. They're from Brighton, are called Lyrebirds, and sound like a combination of Interpol and Echo and the Bunnymen. Live, they were both engaging and unpretencious, had very little interaction with the audience yet still seemed appreciative. Whatever it was, i thoroughly enjoyed the set. Check their myspace where they have 2 tracks, and catch them live if you can.

The second band was The Maccabees themselves, a band i knew of from their early singles X-Ray and Latchmere, but didn't really have an opinion either way. Then i saw them play in Cambridge and realised i was watching one of the best live bands in the UK at the moment. From the very first song, they combine passion, sincerity and thoughtfullness. The song that stuck in my mind was their opening number, taken from their upcoming second album. It was available as a free download on their myspace and as a youtube video but has now been taken down, but here is the footage of the song No Kind Words from the show in Stoke: If you've got no kind words to say, you should say nothing more at all...