Issue 105 / November 2019
November 2019 issue of Bido Lito! magazine. Featuring: THE MYSTERINES, NUTRIBE, TRUDY AND THE ROMANCE, KEITH HARING, BLACK LIPS, RICHARD DAWSON, LYDIAH, BALTIC WEEKENDER, IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE, RED RUM CLUB and much more. November 2019 issue of Bido Lito! magazine. Featuring: THE MYSTERINES, NUTRIBE, TRUDY AND THE ROMANCE, KEITH HARING, BLACK LIPS, RICHARD DAWSON, LYDIAH, BALTIC WEEKENDER, IBIBIO SOUND MACHINE, RED RUM CLUB and much more.
Blink and you’ll have missed The Mysterines’ rise from smoking area adulation to the name on the lips of the country’s biggest taste-makers. This is merely the start. Take a deep breath and hang on tight as they wind up to release the full force of their hair-raising repertoire. THE MYSTE Over the last 18 months, you might have noticed posters surfacing around the city’s streets crying out ‘Who are The Mysterines?’ Those early few who knew, knew. But, beyond the striking shredded typeface, there was no explanation. Who, what or were THE MYSTERINES? Overheard whispers in the smoking areas of venues gave the odd hushed clue. But, even if you didn’t know, it felt like you should care. Until now the band have had little internet presence and only a handful of songs to go with their poster campaign. Yet, even with a relatively low profile over the last year, the trio have been able to build a fair amount of excitement, just in time for the release of their statement EP, Take Control. People love a mystery. Everyone strives to be the first person on the pulse of a new band, to be the first person to bring them up in conversation. However, after supporting Miles Kane on his UK tour and with fans in Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens, the aforementioned heavyweights have beat many to it. The Mysterines are fast becoming less mysterious to discerning rock fans in Liverpool and further afield. Word is spreading. So, here I am on a Saturday night at the O2 Academy, preparing myself for my first full experience of their much-touted live show, one that so many have attested to in Liverpool since the arrival of those posters. It’s a sell-out in the main room for tonight’s headliners Red Rum Club, so it’s fair to assume most up-and-coming bands would feel a hint of pressure in the situation. Not quite. Rather than smile and be thankful for the opportunity, the trio offer a direct lesson in the need to turn up for support acts. No frills, no fuss, no hype. Just grungy guitars, dirty bass riffs, pounding drums and rough vocals that sound like a combination of PJ Harvey, Courtney Love and Dua Lipa. The show pretty much carries on in this vein for the rest of their set, with a distinct absence of unnecessary chatter from the lead singer, or anyone for that matter. The band don’t need it. The crowd don’t need it. The music speaks for itself. Take the eponymous EP opener. There’s no revving up of the engine or false start. It’s a juggernaut already in monition, like a brick laid on a muscle car accelerator pedal. The soaring vocals that career alongside give off the cool of a Ray-Ban clad James Dean. Hormone is pumped full of wiry attitude, a song that begs to played with the windows fully rolled down with little care 14
“There’s a lot you can take from being at this stage so young, but there is also a lot that can fuck you up” RINES for the decibel level. Gasoline and Bet Your Pretty Face are as unsparing as they are anthemic; they could happily draw the curtain on a sunburst backdrop as you speed off in the distance. The EP as a whole sounds like it was recorded with a white-hot intent; it’s clear no single thread of energy was spared in its assembly. Seeing all of this live forces home the feeling. Their lack of online presence means their whole persona, style and stage presence is a surprise until curtain call. It harks back to the good old days of not knowing what to expect from a show. When you couldn’t pre-watch glimpses of sets on YouTube seemingly recorded by a potato. When setlists were still something to be anticipated. The Mysterines are bringing back that first time excitement of going to gigs. Behind the posters and lashings of overdrive, The Mysterines are a three-piece band from Wirral. Lia Metcalfe provides their fierce vocals and guitar, George Favager adds gritty bass and Chrissy Moore relentlessly bangs the drums. Yet, mysterious by name and mysterious by nature. When I meet up with Lia a few days after the show, even though I had seen her on stage a few days prior, I have no idea who I’m looking out for. I try to make myself look obvious in the bar we are meeting in; laptop and notebook poised, pen in hand, anxious knee tapping. After a number of bodies and faces come through the door, she eventually arrives. It’s clear who she is. Lia oozes a sense of nonchalant coolness, one I’d never be able to achieve in a million years. Much more sedate in nature now, but with a lot more to say than the weekend’s stage presence. She’s only 18 years of age. Suddenly, I feel old. In between their Red Rum Club gig and pending support slots with Seagirls and The Amazons we sit down to address the posters and finally answer the elusive, A2 sized question: ‘Who are The Mysterines?’ We start at the very beginning, with a good old blast to the past. Well, one not so distant; Lia and George are 18, and Chrissy is only 23, after all. “My dad was a singer-songwriter in a band,” Lia starts, when asked how she got the impetus to explore the world of music and eventually form her own band. “He taught me my first two chords when I was nine and I just wrote songs off the back of that.” She recalls this while shrugging her shoulders as though learning how to play guitar at nine is commonplace. “I didn’t want to learn guitar. Weirdly, I just wanted to learn tunes, so I sort of skipped learning to play theoretically. It’s only the past few years I’ve been like, ‘Shit, I really need to learn some stuff’.” FEATURE 15
- Page 1 and 2: ISSUE 105 / NOVEMBER 2019 NEW MUSIC
- Page 3 and 4: TATE LIVERPOOL 14 JUN - 10 NOV 2019
- Page 5 and 6: JERRY MANE’S DEFINITIVE COMEDY SL
- Page 7 and 8: Armistead Maupin 11 November Nadiya
- Page 9: MEMBERSHIP BECOME A BIDO LITO! MEMB
- Page 12 and 13: NEWS Mellowtone @ 15 Mellowtone Fro
- Page 16 and 17: 16 “Sometimes you need to take th
- Page 18 and 19: NUTRIBE Fresh from the renowned Fut
- Page 20 and 21: COMING OUT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP 20
- Page 22 and 23: TRUDY AND THE ROMANCE Following on
- Page 24 and 25: In his works The Dirt I’m Made Of
- Page 26 and 27: SPOTLIGHT “It’s almost therapeu
- Page 29 and 30: lonely up here in Middle England,
- Page 31 and 32: In anticipation of their Liverpool
- Page 33 and 34: GIG Mac Demarco Bramley Moore Dock
- Page 35 and 36: Ibibio Sound Machine I Love Live Ev
- Page 37 and 38: ADD TO PLAYLIST Red Rum Club EVOL @
- Page 39 and 40: BOOK NOW: 0161 832 1111 MANchestera
- Page 41 and 42: Take the hassle out of Christmas pa
- Page 44 and 45: ARTISTIC LICENCE This month’s off
- Page 46 and 47: SAY THE FINAL Working at the heart
Blink and you’ll have missed The<br />
Mysterines’ rise from smoking area<br />
adulation to the name on the lips of the<br />
country’s biggest taste-makers. This<br />
is merely the start. Take a deep breath<br />
and hang on tight as they wind up to<br />
release the full force of their hair-raising<br />
repertoire.<br />
THE MYSTE<br />
Over the last 18 months, you might have noticed posters surfacing around the city’s<br />
streets crying out ‘Who are The Mysterines?’ Those early few who knew, knew. But,<br />
beyond the striking shredded typeface, there was no explanation. Who, what or were<br />
THE MYSTERINES? Overheard whispers in the smoking areas of venues gave the odd<br />
hushed clue. But, even if you didn’t know, it felt like you should care.<br />
Until now the band have had little internet presence and only a handful of songs to go with<br />
their poster campaign. Yet, even with a relatively low profile over the last year, the trio have been<br />
able to build a fair amount of excitement, just in time for the release of their statement EP, Take<br />
Control.<br />
People love a mystery. Everyone strives to be the first person on the pulse of a new band, to<br />
be the first person to bring them up in conversation. However, after supporting Miles Kane on his<br />
UK tour and with fans in Steve Lamacq and Huw Stephens, the aforementioned heavyweights<br />
have beat many to it. The Mysterines are fast becoming less mysterious to discerning rock fans in<br />
Liverpool and further afield. Word is spreading.<br />
So, here I am on a Saturday night at the O2 Academy, preparing myself for my first full<br />
experience of their much-touted live show, one that so many have attested to in Liverpool since<br />
the arrival of those posters. It’s a sell-out in the main room for tonight’s headliners Red Rum Club,<br />
so it’s fair to assume most up-and-coming bands would feel a hint of pressure in the situation. Not<br />
quite. Rather than smile and be thankful for the opportunity, the trio offer a direct lesson in the<br />
need to turn up for support acts.<br />
No frills, no fuss, no hype. Just grungy guitars, dirty bass riffs, pounding drums and rough<br />
vocals that sound like a combination of PJ Harvey, Courtney Love and Dua Lipa. The show pretty<br />
much carries on in this vein for the rest of their set, with a distinct absence of unnecessary chatter<br />
from the lead singer, or anyone for that matter. The band don’t need it. The crowd don’t need it.<br />
The music speaks for itself.<br />
Take the eponymous EP opener. There’s no revving up of the engine or false start. It’s a<br />
juggernaut already in monition, like a brick laid on a muscle car accelerator pedal. The soaring<br />
vocals that career alongside give off the cool of a Ray-Ban clad James Dean. Hormone is pumped<br />
full of wiry attitude, a song that begs to played with the windows fully rolled down with little care<br />
14
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