Page 47 - Black Velvet Issue 97

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LOWER THAN ATLANTIS / MILK TEETH / THE FAIM – LEAMINGTON SPA ASSEMBLY, 04.04.18
It’s not every day you go to a spa to see some bands, but this happened when Lower Than Atlantis booked a tour that featured a variety of lesser-
played towns and cities. Leamington Spa was our city of choice, the closest to Birmingham – thus, we ventured there for the first time ever.
We’re not exactly sure where The Faim have come from (other than Perth, Australia), but they’re like stumbling across a crisp tenner on the floor.
They’re an impressive four-piece with perfect pop-rock tunes. It’s no surprise that they’ve written with Mark Hoppus and Josh Dun, and been produced
by John Feldmann. John has a knack for spotting talent and we can see why he chose to work with The Faim. Songs such as ‘Midland Line’ and
‘Make Believe’ have sumptuous melodies, while ‘Saints Of The Sinners’ could easily sneak into a Fall Out Boy setlist. What is more astounding is that
this is The Faim’s first tour. We wonder if their next will be in arenas. It deserves to be.
Opening with ‘Nearby Catfight’,
grungy punk rockers Milk Teeth play
their usual solid set. If you’ve seen
them once, you’ll know what to expect.
They are single-handedly dragging the
90s sounds of Seattle into the current
times. Aside from asking, “Who likes
getting rowdy?” before ‘Fight Skirt’ and
not getting much response, bassist and
lead vocalist Becky Blomfield is quiet in
between songs, with the band letting
their songs do the talking. Guitarist Billy
Hutton helps stir up some anarchy to-
wards the end of the song with his
shoutier vocals. With one fan already
on another’s shoulders at the front of
the crowd, this band is sure to keep on
winning support with sets like these.
After half an hour of 80’s rock
music played in between sets, Lower
Than Atlantis arrive to an assembly
(rather appropriately) of cheers. Kick-
ing into ‘Had Enough’, Mike Duce, Ben
Sansom, Declan Hart and Eddy
Thrower show they mean business.
Vocalist/guitarist Mike tells the audi-
ence to run around in a circle pit “like
dickheads” before ‘Work For It’. The
Assembly is much smaller than the
main room of Birmingham Academy
that we last saw the band in, and
tonight the show seems even more in-
timate when the frontman ventures into
the crowd, not once but twice. The first
is after he’s been bought a couple of
shots from members of the audience
after telling the audience “Someone get
me a Sambuca”. “I wasn’t going to do
this, but I’ve had a couple of shots,” he
says before going into the crowd and
inciting another circle pit around him. A
couple of songs later, he asks, “Are you
happy?” before saying “I’m going to
play a really, really sad song,” and then
telling the crowd if they make another
circle he’ll come back down. He grabs
his acoustic guitar for ‘Another Sad
Song’. Everyone is told to crouch down
around him – and they do, making a re-
ally impressive scene.
‘Beech’ from ‘World Record’ gets a
flow of crowdsurfers flying to the front.
Our fave, ‘I Would’, the romantic gem
that it is, ends up sounding a bit more
punk rock live. Mike’s vocals are
slightly drowned out by the music,
which is a shame. This might be a good
one to do acoustically in future. ‘Words
Don’t Come So Easily’ (which Mike
says is like someone doing a big diar-
rhoea on your heart) is a huge sing-
along, while ‘English Kids In America’
and ‘Here We Go’ end the quality
evening on a high, with Mike doing a bit
of crowd surfing himself. Clearly he en-
joyed the night as much as us.
YYYYY
Shari Black Velvet
Mike Duce (Lower Than Atlantis)
Photo By Shari Black Velvet

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