White Rose Movement + The Violets + The Waysters - Joiners, Southampton. 05/03/06.

Having caught The Waysters in Portsmouth a couple of weeks before and being blown away by them, this was a chance to see them in a proper venue and check that the previous gig hadn't been just a one off highlight. Usually the local group on the bottom of the bill for visiting bands expect to be ignored apart from mates but from the moment The Waysters take to the stage it is clear that they have managed to bring in a fair few of the punters themselves and I firmly believe that they left the stage with more fans than they began with. Tonight, at times, they look a little nervous but musically they hit the spot again, their modern indie guitar sound going down a treat with a vociferous crowd who treat them like headliners.

Once again they play well beyond their tender years, a couple of minor mistakes are worked over and generally go unnoticed. Once they hit their stride they relax and look like they enjoy being up on stage; the Joiners sound giving the rhythm section an extra boost that gives them a little swagger, they know they are good as the scratchy guitars deliver tense, danceable tunes and you see a couple of smiles appear. They really are a quite frighteningly talented bunch of songwriters, each track played is a winner, not a sign of filler tunes anywhere which is some feat for such a young band and if they continue to wow crowds like tonight then the sky really is the limit and the likes of Arctic Monkeys could have some serious contenders for hottest young band around. If you like all those NME type indie bands then I seriously recommend seeing this lot in a small venue while you can before they start raising the temperatures of those record label types.


The Violets are a completely different kettle of fish and more in keeping with the headliners, a trio that spill out over tumbling Siouxsie And The Banshees tribal beats while the guitarist makes up for the lack of a bass player by creating sheets of raw riffs in the vein of The Kills. They appear hampered by the small Joiners stage as they have to avoid clattering into one another whilst looking like they really want to let rip and go for it which gives you the feeling that they are holding back a tad.
Personally, I quite like their The Kills go goth sound but wouldn't mind catching them on a bigger stage where I feel they would look a bit more natural and the set would flow easier. Tonight the vocalist looks like she has taken up jogging on the spot and in some respects would have been better off just clinging to a mic stand and looking cool with her shock of blonde hair and dark braces over a white top keeping her leather skirt up, but you can't knock them for having plenty of energy. I had neither seen nor heard The Violets before and their dark sounds won me over and while they not be as majestic or sweeping as The Banshees there is something about the raw tribal feel of the music that tickles my fancy and judging by the amount of vinyl they were shifting after it looks like a fair few others were quite taken with them too.


White Rose Movement hark back to the 80s electro sound, they drag the sound of Joy Division into the modern day with big beats and anguished, angular guitars. Despite the seriousness of the onstage personas, the music is highly danceable and the place is heaving within minutes of them being on stage and there is no let up until the last discordant riff is wrung from the guitars. It's all very stark and powerful, with the singer having that Ian Curtis type intensity that makes you want to avoid eye contact as he throws angular shapes and shifts between hammering the keyboard and climbing the monitors. Without the guitars chiming away, giving the music a heavier punked up sound they would be classed as a heavy synth band mixing up the cold sounds of early Human League with the dark poetic side of Joy Division; but they succeed in sounding dated yet modern and prove to be a most enjoyable live experience for those that like a strict ringmaster and dark beats.