Nebula & Winnebago Deal @ The Fez Club, Sheffield, 17th March 2004

The Witches Will Have To Sleep For Now

I was meant to be going to check out a female acoustic 4-piece called 'Waking the Witch' but I stumbled upon some reviews of a band called Nebula online. They sounded intriguing so I decided to go and see them instead at a different venue.

When we arrived at the Fez Club there was a band on whose name I didn't catch. They had some kind of Shaun Rider person singing (shouting?) for them. He was terrible. He seemed to treat his microphone as a sex toy and the rest of the band seemed quite uncomfortable with this too. The crowd weren't impressed. He wasn't impressed with the fact that we weren't impressed. He pleaded with us all to have some f*ckin manners at one point. Interesting way of winning over new fans, that.

Anyway, they went off and the official support act, Winnebago Deal came on.

Ohmigod! Winnebago Deal blew Nebula off the stage. They are a 2-piece from Oxford. Imagine if Nirvana had been British, had decided that they could survive without Kris Novoselic and only played songs like Territorial Pissings and you've got Winnebago Deal. The crowd loved it and swarmed right up to the edge of the stage. Unfortunately I couldn't really see how the singer (called Ben - the drummer is also called Ben apparently) was managing to produce the sounds that were blasting (and I mean BLASTING!) out of the speakers. How can they not have a bassist, yet sound so complete and meaty! A row of particularly tall and sky-fisting fans kept the bands actions a secret from me. I imagine some nifty effects pedals were the key?

Ben from Winnebago Deal: Kurt in disguise?

The singer didn't really say much. I don't recall any form of introduction and they barely paused in between songs. Infact you could've been forgiven for thinking their 35+ minute set was just one long assault.

Nebula came on and sounded reasonable, but just so tame and watered-down after Winnebago's set. We left before the end with battered ears. Infact, they're still ringing and nearly 24 hours have passed.

I have ordered a Winnebago CD and am looking forward to seeing the Ben's again. I may just invest in a pair of ear plugs before doing so mind.