The Modernaires at The Horn Inn - Wednesday 10th March 2010
Despite displaying all the symptoms of “man-flu” I gamely made the short midweek
hop to Messingham to see what The Modernaires had to offer the connoisseurs of live
music at The Horn Inn. The band has been together for about 2 years now, originally
starting out as a two-piece comprising Daz Bramley on lead vocals & bass and Haydn
Dickinson on guitar then in recent times Jimmy Bramley joined on drums (making them
a proper band - oops, sorry guys). Many will know Daz & Jimmy from The Kites a few
years ago and of course Haydn is well known for his time with Scrapyard Dogs.
It was a big sound. The Bramley trademark Rickenbacker was solid, the Dickinson Les
Paul was busy & full and Jimmy Bramley held it all together with a power show behind
the electronic Roland V-Drums. I have to say I was very impressed by the sound of
the V-Drums, which is quite something for me because I’m very much an acoustic drums
purist, and although they are extremely well these days, leastways that is what the
retailers are telling us, this is the first time I’ve seen an electronic kit used
on stage locally. Of course its one thing having a good sound, its another one entirely
being able to get the best out of the kit but I’ve been a fan Jimmy’s playing for
a few years now and if anyone around here can get the best out of it, he can. And
he did. I loved it.
The Modernaires played a nice mix of rock & indie tunes. There was a liberal sprinkling
of The Killers, Oasis and The Jam and I particularly enjoyed The Libertines “Can’t
Stand Me Now”. The Horn Inn crowd is a little subdued of late making it difficult
for the bands to “feed” off them and tonight was no different, but slowly the guys
loosened up and began to perform. I remember thinking at one stage that the Bramley
dentist must be very good as you don’t see many bass players play with their teeth!
Ouch.
There was a false start to the second set when Daz’s mic wasn’t switched on - but
from then on it was plain sailing. Solid versions of Franz Ferdinand’’s “Take Me
Out” and KOL’S “Use Somebody” preceded a manic “American Idiot” introduced by the
Bramley witticism “you play any guitar riff Haydn and we’ll come in”. “Two Princes”,
an excellent, often forgotten tune by 90’s hipsters the Spin Doctors was the standout
number for me closely followed by Kasabian’s “Club Foot” and all too soon the band
closed with “Sex On Fire” after explaining that they’d had to chop a couple of songs
out of the set as Haydn had forgotten to bring his wah wah pedal. Rock’n’roll eh?
Verdict: I was very impressed by The Modernaires and thoroughly enjoyed the gig.
They played my sort of music, which always helps, but they played it well and kept
it edgy. A very nice young lady told me that The Modernaires were cool. I couldn’t
agree more.
PJF
