Client - Krefeld 2007

Kulturfabrik, Krefeld, Germany
04th May 2007
Client - "Lights go out"-Tour, Nemo

The probably most seductive girl trio of Electro Pop was inviting you to a journey to the dark site of the city – to the place of unfulfilled dreams and anonymity, for forbidden lusts and sex. Visually very clever between fashion and fetish the three ladies of CLIENT play a very alluring game between distance and coolness – presented with breezy winking – also musically. Irresistible hook lines on a minimalist electro basement are combined with New Wave and Brit Pop. Additionally, you get a pinch of Glam Pop and some strokes of Northern Soul. CLIENT present a futuristic Pop epos with their new album ‘Heartland’ – comparably cool as emotional, glamorous and sexy. Feelings and longings of the audience can come to tailspin. On that Friday night in May, I had the pleasure to see those ladies again at the small club at the Kulturfabrik Krefeld where the evening was opened by the British band NEMO.


Nemo

First I thought, this would be quite an empty venue during the support act. But luckily right in time for the staring time at 21:00 people entered the concert hall to see an electro rock quartet from London / UK called NEMO. NEMO are Kev Kennedy (guitars, synths, backing vocals), Milan Adamik (bass, synths) Section Q (drums, synths) and James Cook (vocals, synths). The band had the first live performances in summer 2004 and since than, their popularity increases from UK over France to Germany. Recently, the band finished the recording of the debut album ‘Post Human Love’ - which is out since March - at its own studios. After succeeding in Berlin’s clubs, NEMO now regularly tour trough Germany as well as toured through UK i.e. with legendary SNEAKER PIPMS (singer Chris Corner is now on the road with his solo project IAMX). After the album release, now the second single ‘Car Crash Eyes’ hit the stores in April and follows the footsteps of the debut single ‘Lifespan’. http://www.nemointernational.com/ / http://www.myspace.com/nemointernational



Music
Those four guys made up the perfect opener for a night with sexy CLIENT. With their fusion of poppy melodies, punky rhythms and bleepy electronics they hit the audience immediately and right the first song ‘Yellow sun’ - which cannot be found on the debut album - got more than just polite applause. NEMO are not just another Indie band. They are set apart from that scene with their unique and energetic electro-pop-punk-rock sounds. It is said that they are experimental as THE FAINT and accessible as THE KILLERS and after listening to their show last Friday I can say there’s some truth in it. Besides the very first song, all the other songs of the set were taken from the debut album ‘Post Human Love’. Within their influences, the guys name i.e. TALKING HEADS, DEPECHE MODE, KRAFTWERK, ULTRAVOX!, SNEAKER PIMPS, DAF or THE FAINT and indeed you can hear reminiscences to all those bands within NEMO’s music.



NEMO are retro without being really retro. They sound fresh and new. Synth sounds, distorted guitars, solid bass sounds, tight drum basement and the voice of front man James result in a very own musical cocktail which differs in a pleasant way from many other British Indie acts. The debut album ‘Post Human Love’ received lots of positive critics from the music press and after listening to the songs for the first time in my life during the gig in Krefeld I only can say: hey, they are right! That stuff rocks, is fresh and makes you wanting more. At the moment I really regret that I forgot to buy the album after the show. ;)



After the second song ‘Rescue the revolution’ the set continued with ‘Piccadilly in Sepia’ what the band dedicated to their home country. Next song ‘Rpt2fade’ presented sounds that also could emanate DEPCHE MODE’s pen. With ‘Lifespan’ the Punk offensive entered the hall while afterwards the current single and epic dark electro rock song ‘Car Crash Eyes’ with its pure pop chorus was presented. As singer James told us, this song was an ode to all those internet groupies. With ‘Living Room’ and ‘Clones’ a much too short set of about thirty minutes ended and the band was released with excited applause what they really deserved because all four guys are competent musicians playing their instruments with flair.



Performance
While the band sounds a bit like they were coming from the good old eighties, they guys also looked like they were sprung out off the good old era - curly haired singer James wore a black stylish Jacket, bass player Milan a black and white stripes shirt and a black collar, guitar player Key wore a black leather jacket during the whole set even though it was quite warm and drummer Section Q was clothed just in black jeans an shirt. I read somewhere that someone said singer James looks like “young JOHN FOXX in a wig” - haha, well back in the 80s again I’d say! ;) I must admit that I never had heard of this band before that evening and I was positively surprised by the energy the band – and especially singer James - brought on stage from the first second.



All guys – except the drummer who was bound behind his instrument – were moving around at stage a lot, changing instruments as it is the most natural in the world – Key was playing guitar, small keyboard and providing backing vocals, Milan was changing between bass and keyboard and singer James was presenting vocals as well as playing keys from time to time. But James was not only changing between singing and playing keys, he also jumped around at stage during the more energetic moments which was quite exciting. Yeah, so much energy took its toll and so, the sweat was running down James’ face. But hey, who cares when a show has to be done? ;) It was really astonishing how his voice still sounded with so much effort – still it was strong and carried you away over the mesh of electronics and guitar sounds. After this exciting show I only can say, go and watch them yourself. They’re worth it and they’re brilliant!