My Ruin/GU Medicine @ Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms, 30/01/06
Originally published at http://www.disordermagazine.net/article.php?id=62
My Ruin/GU Medicine @ Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms, 30/01/06
Entering the Wedge tonight takes me back to my college days when nu-metal was king and the only real alternatives were the Strokes and Coldplay. Back then I wore my chain, stupid mid-length baggy jeans and One Minute Silence t-shirt with pride. I laughed at pictures of my parents in their 70s gear, convinced that I would never look back at my ‘style’ choice with regret. If there’s one thing more distressing than looking around at the misfits in the Wedgewood Rooms tonight, it’s the fact that many of them remind me of myself five years ago. Eek!
Although I grew out of the image from back then I certainly did not grow out of my appreciation for heavy music. Luckily, G.U. Medicine deliver exactly that. As they kick off a bitch fight starts mere meters away from me; a mess of hair and nails and screeching that no man would be stupid enough to get in the middle of. G.U. Medicine embody the spirit of punk rock, spitting out tune after tune without letting up until the very end of their final song. The relentless crunching guitars remind me of Sick of it All, whilst the barked vocals seem like a combination of Entombed and Bruce Dickinson’s controlled epic singing style. The front man seems weathered and well practiced; it takes a special kind of singer to make minimum movements and hold my attention for the entire set, which this guy pulls of seamlessly.
I can’t help but think that My Ruin have a hard act to follow. They march on to the smoky stage to the tune of a creepy spoken intro which is presumably the voice of Tairrie B, the female singer and leader of this motley crew of Californians. From the very first song she is right up in the audience’s faces, quite literally coming nose to nose with whichever pierced face she finds the most attractive. It’s hard to see her clearly from where I am stood, as she is literally part of the crowd for most of the time. When she does step into view I have to have a double-take; is that Toyah Wilcox? She’s got an orange and black mullet surrounding her cute chubby face like a keratin picture frame, it’s something I notice but admittedly not strictly a musical matter.
In actual fact My Ruin’s music has a similar appeal to that of Tairrie B’s hairdo: initially interesting, occasionally captivating but soon pretty boring. Tairrie’s screaming voice is pretty impressive ‘for a girl’ (may get strung up for that comment) but in broad metal terms it is nothing spectacular. It is constantly at the same low pitch and shows minimal ingenuity, much like the repetitive feel of the band’s tunes. The riffs are muddy and stomp along at the same plodding speed throughout the entire set. There is a very clear separation between lasting metal genres and the less musically-adept nu-metal, and tonight My Ruin highlight the reasons why the fleeting genre of heavy music died out.
On a positive note, the guitarist and drummer are incredible musicians and every now and then they get the chance to show us this. Some of the solos remind me of the late great Dimebag Daryll’s axe work, wailing and screeching with the utmost control and rhythm. The drummer shows his skills by playing each simple beat in as awkward a way as possible, spinning his sticks and switching positions in such a way that makes his experience obvious. I can’t help but wonder what these guys would produce outside of the simplified framework of this outdated brand of metal.
Whilst the Goths and the misfits deafen me between every song with their admiration for the group, I am extremely underwhelmed. There’s a limit to how long sporadic soloing and big hair can exclusively hold my interest, and tonight I found my limit.
www.myruin.com
3 Feb 2006 by Matt S.
My Ruin/GU Medicine @ Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms, 30/01/06
Entering the Wedge tonight takes me back to my college days when nu-metal was king and the only real alternatives were the Strokes and Coldplay. Back then I wore my chain, stupid mid-length baggy jeans and One Minute Silence t-shirt with pride. I laughed at pictures of my parents in their 70s gear, convinced that I would never look back at my ‘style’ choice with regret. If there’s one thing more distressing than looking around at the misfits in the Wedgewood Rooms tonight, it’s the fact that many of them remind me of myself five years ago. Eek!
Although I grew out of the image from back then I certainly did not grow out of my appreciation for heavy music. Luckily, G.U. Medicine deliver exactly that. As they kick off a bitch fight starts mere meters away from me; a mess of hair and nails and screeching that no man would be stupid enough to get in the middle of. G.U. Medicine embody the spirit of punk rock, spitting out tune after tune without letting up until the very end of their final song. The relentless crunching guitars remind me of Sick of it All, whilst the barked vocals seem like a combination of Entombed and Bruce Dickinson’s controlled epic singing style. The front man seems weathered and well practiced; it takes a special kind of singer to make minimum movements and hold my attention for the entire set, which this guy pulls of seamlessly.
I can’t help but think that My Ruin have a hard act to follow. They march on to the smoky stage to the tune of a creepy spoken intro which is presumably the voice of Tairrie B, the female singer and leader of this motley crew of Californians. From the very first song she is right up in the audience’s faces, quite literally coming nose to nose with whichever pierced face she finds the most attractive. It’s hard to see her clearly from where I am stood, as she is literally part of the crowd for most of the time. When she does step into view I have to have a double-take; is that Toyah Wilcox? She’s got an orange and black mullet surrounding her cute chubby face like a keratin picture frame, it’s something I notice but admittedly not strictly a musical matter.
In actual fact My Ruin’s music has a similar appeal to that of Tairrie B’s hairdo: initially interesting, occasionally captivating but soon pretty boring. Tairrie’s screaming voice is pretty impressive ‘for a girl’ (may get strung up for that comment) but in broad metal terms it is nothing spectacular. It is constantly at the same low pitch and shows minimal ingenuity, much like the repetitive feel of the band’s tunes. The riffs are muddy and stomp along at the same plodding speed throughout the entire set. There is a very clear separation between lasting metal genres and the less musically-adept nu-metal, and tonight My Ruin highlight the reasons why the fleeting genre of heavy music died out.
On a positive note, the guitarist and drummer are incredible musicians and every now and then they get the chance to show us this. Some of the solos remind me of the late great Dimebag Daryll’s axe work, wailing and screeching with the utmost control and rhythm. The drummer shows his skills by playing each simple beat in as awkward a way as possible, spinning his sticks and switching positions in such a way that makes his experience obvious. I can’t help but wonder what these guys would produce outside of the simplified framework of this outdated brand of metal.
Whilst the Goths and the misfits deafen me between every song with their admiration for the group, I am extremely underwhelmed. There’s a limit to how long sporadic soloing and big hair can exclusively hold my interest, and tonight I found my limit.
www.myruin.com
3 Feb 2006 by Matt S.
posted by Matthew Simpson | 4:33 PM
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