Live review: Versus

Thursday 21 January
The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh

On-stage hook-ups can have spectacularly varied results. From The Last Waltz to Band Aid to all those carefully brokered festival duets masquerading as spontaneous 'happenings', there have been good, bad and painful examples. But in its short stint Edinburgh’s Versus night has got the concept just about right: thoughtful curation, proper rehearsals, mutual respect and minimum ego.

But tonight in a busy Voodoo Rooms ballroom we aren't plunged head first into a multi-band spectacle, oh no. Instead the artists perform separate mini-sets as a gentle introduction to the daring experimentation to follow. And it doesn’t come much gentler than eagleowl. With the darkened room almost at capacity, it takes a few moments before most attendees notice that the gig is underway, with the Edinburgh band’s brooding post-folk (c.f. every article ever written about them) making a quiet, undramatic entrance. But Bart Owl (pictured, right) gradually pulls focus stage-ward with his transatlantic vocals and understated but purposeful guitar strumming, backed by Clarissa Cheong on double bass.

Alan Oates of Come in Tokyo makes his solo debut as Oates Field (left) next - although he starts this maiden gig unceremoniously, crouched down at the side of the stage where he tinkers with a tattered synth and loop pedals. It all comes together when he steps up and stomps out a rhythm out on the bass drum, adding direction to his ragged folk rock. A seasoned live musician with seemingly scant concern for the occasion, it feels as if you’ve walked in on a private rehearsal in his living room.

There’s no red carpet in sight for tonight’s headliners, Bafta winners Found (below), but they follow Oates without a hint of grand pretentions, dutifully adding their electro-fringed, funk-flecked fare to the night’s rarefied menu.



After only one initial song they vacate the spotlight for the evening’s first special guest, The Wee Rogue (right). Reminding this writer of Mr Tumnus for a weird moment, the skinny, goatee'd Jamie O’Connor then locates himself nearer 60s America than Narnia with his finger-picked guitar and far-sighted delivery of a single “love song”.

A cover of eagleowl’s 'MF' delivered with relish by Oates Field follows, before Found return with a longer exposition of their assured folktronica. Ziggy Campbell pronounces his sabre-sharp lyrics with evident pleasure, while Kev Sim and Tommy Perman forge a torrent of drenched static, zinging FX and chugging bass. For a trio they emit a surprisingly complex, utterly composed sound.

There’s an unintentional interval before special guest number two, which Oates fills with a spot of improv comedy, and it’s to Phillip Quirie’s credit that he manages to shrug off Oates' playful jibes about his spaghetti junction of pedals and hooded jumper as he sets up his gear. Once he gets going, Meursault member Quirie, here tonight as Debutant (left), quickly draws the room deep into his shimmering, stormy realm. It’s his second effort, 'Thirst', that emerges as a highlight, not just from his brief set but the whole evening.

From here on in the 'versus' clause comes into full effect, with eagleowl, Found and Oates Field massing on stage as a kind of shambling supergroup, their mission to find new perspectives in each other's songs. For the most part they achieve this; each musician eyeing one other intently, studying the shifts and pauses and showing the kind of cohesion that must have required real preparation. The sedate pace of the eagleowl material benefits from Found’s box of digital tricks, and they consciously alternate between styles, from three-minute crescendos to American radio rock to segments of unrestrained jamming.

But with so many cooks crowding over the broth pot, at times it does go off the boil. There are at least two songs which fall flat, prompting the less attentive in the audience to restart their (no doubt essential) conversations.

Despite the downturn, the last song of the night, a version of eagleowl’s normally undulating 'Blanket' (but this time driven by a thumping beat straight from the subwoofer of your local boy racer) builds and builds to a magnificent climax, as if to reaffirm that, despite the risks involved, the pay-off on offer with such boundary-pushing is undoubtedly worthwhile.

Whoever they choose for the next Versus will have high standards to uphold.

Words: Nick Mitchell
Photos: Julia Stryj

Billy Hamilton: My gig of 2009

Versus, The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh
10 September

To put forward the inaugural Voodoo Rooms-based Versus as my gig of 2009 is doing the night little justice.

You see, this wasn’t just your bog-standard three band soirée that underpins gigs the length and breadth of this country. No, this was a spectacle – a loud one at that.

With Dead Boy Robotics, Foundling Wheel and Meursault taking up the leading roles, the three-pronged stage invasion had melody mingling with discord and folk frolicking with noise.

A pre-show natter with the man behind the concept, Ted Koterwas, revealed a desire to engage the polarized factions of Edinburgh’s music scene in a battle royale of sound that would open up doors and knock down walls.

But it wasn’t about indulging in a spot of musical peacekeeping, it was much, much more. Sounds blasted from the stage as if igniting from a Kennedy Space Center launch pad, while a roll-call of Auld Reekie luminaries took turns in complementing the starring trio’s kaleidoscopic mash up.

Bulging instrumentation frothed with all the frenzy of a rabid dog chasing its tail, leaving the senses of the punters ragged, frayed and, most of all, alive.

By the time the finale of tumbling percussion and electrified synth crushed solar plexuses, you knew what had unravelled was something very special indeed.

A night to remember? Perhaps. A night not to be forgotten. Definitely.

The next Versus night features eagleowl, Found and Oates Field, and takes place at the Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh on 21 January.

What was your gig of 2009? Let us know below...

VERSUS: Meursault vs The Foundling Wheel vs Dead Boy Robotics

Ground-breaking live music night Versus returns on Thursday 10 September with a trio of our favourite BEAR Scotland noise-mongers – Meursault, The Foundling Wheel and Dead Boy Robotics – gearing up to grapple track-to-track in the Voodoo Rooms’ shadowed cove.

Ted Koterwas, organiser of the first Versus event in March, has joined forces with Dave Cumings, co-creator of Edinburgh’s Limbo, to create a bi-monthly sound explosion that takes three bands and one stage and turns them into a lug-ringing racket.

“Versus capitalises on the notion of conflict, and then subverts it,” explains Koterwas. “It starts with a duelling concept, where bands go track for track, but then evolves. We are encouraging bands to collaborate on songs as well as alternate, so you can expect a number of songs to be played by new configurations of the bands involved."

This triangular tussle juxtaposes UtR’s favourte alt. folk heroes Meursault against the incessant bit-crushing of The Foundling Wheel and Dead Boy Robotics’ robotic discord. As a special treat for eager punters, rumour has it the triad will be joined by a number of esteemed local musical dignitaries throughout the night. That’s just between you and us though, right?

Aimed at appealing to both the competitive and collaborative spirits of bands, Versus is set to produce a bombastic throb of sound that’s a refreshing antidote to the folky whispers often emanating from Auld Reekie’s streets.

As Koterwas puts it: “We aim to curate some truly innovative combinations of bands from different genres and styles and really challenge them to either find common ground or revel in the ensuing conflict - hopefully a bit of both.”

A step into the unknown, Versus really could go either way. And you know what? That's what makes it so very special.

Words: Billy Hamilton

Versus is on at The Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh at 8pm, Thursday 10 September. Tickets are £5 on the door.

Versus: A night to prove that 3 really is the magic number

[From left: Enfant Bastard, Dead Boy Robotics, The Foundling Wheel]

There's something depressingly formulaic about gigs these days: you pay your money, the band turns up, plays the standard setlist, follows this with a rehearsed encore (whether they've earned it or not) and then leave for their next port of call.

It poses a question for even the most devoted fan: Why didn't I just listen to the album at home without the £3 pints and that tall bloke standing directly in my line of vision?

A group of Edinburgh artists may just have the answer, by devising a thoroughly different approach to the live music format: three bands, one stage. The trio of like-minded acts behind this unique night, which has been combatively titled 'Versus', are sonic pioneer The Foundling Wheel, synth-punk wizards Dead Boy Robotics and anti-folk master Enfant Bastard.

All three acts are members of the Bear Scotland collective, a prominent strand of Edinburgh's burgeoning music scene which also includes Meursault and Withered Hand.

'Versus' is being billed as "a night where innovative exploration converges with mind-blistering instrumentation."

So if you want to witness a bit of local history in the making, and perhaps even the live formation of Edinburgh's first superband, head along to the Wee Red Bar (at the Edinburgh College of Art) this Saturday, 7th March, from 7.30pm.

Meanwhile, have a listen to some tracks from each act...

Enfant Bastard - Vincent Van Gogh


Dead Boy Robotics - Cloud Sequence Animals


The Foundling Wheel - Out To See