The alternative scene in the late eighties and early nineties was a great time for live music. While most people were raving about bands like Nirvana, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam, the alternative years for me were all about two Kims; Kim Gordon and Kim Deal.

If Kim Deal is just “that chick from the Pixies” to you, then you have not been properly introduced to the Breeders.  While all my friends were carving “Kurt” into their forearms in ‘93, I was wearing my yellow Breeders t-shirt with the fuzzy pink helmet on the front every day until it literally fell off in pieces.  Where the Pixies yank you around by your nuts with their music, the Breeders take a more subtle approach. They pick you up on a warm wave of jelly and roll you across the countryside. Kim Deal’s is one of the truly great rock voices of our time, and was just as great at the show last Thursday as she has ever been. 

The Breeders walked out and for an hour, they pulled me straight back to 1993 complete with shoulder length greasy hair, cutoff jeans and lumberjack jacket.  Everyone who goes to see one of their favourite bands has a song they must hear; mine was Huffer and they played it right off the bat. One guy (annoyingly) kept yelling “Lord of the Thighs!” There is nothing cool about shouting out a b-side on the band’s biggest single. You couldn’t even be bothered to buy the Last Splash album, you philistine. Unsurprisingly, his request went unanswered. 

The Breeders were definitely on form playing most of their hits, with Iris and Cannonball predictably getting the biggest cheers. The songs off their new album got mixed reviews from the crowd and a bit of worry from me when I heard their new folk song Here No More and a country song in the encore.  Please Kim, don’t go folk - as David Lowery said; "the world needs another folk singer like I need a hole in my head". 

There was no Frank Black at the show, but there was a Jim Noir.  Jim Noir opened for the Breeders and is another guy I am really excited about. Eanie Meanie and My Patch are two very catchy tunes that stand out from most pop songs on the radio at the minute, so I expected his to be a great set. It wasn’t. The first half featured a coughing contest between Jim and his keyboardist and in the song Holiday we saw the simplest keyboard track since A Flock of Seagulls' I Ran. It was so easy, in fact, that she played it with one hand while drinking a beer with the other and looking at the ceiling.  I’m sorry, love, are we boring you? 

It was also way too loud and for most of it Jim looked as though his feet were entrenched in concrete.  One of his most endearing qualities is his quirky style and dancing, but we got none of that; he was about as charming on stage as a fungal infection. I kept getting the feeling that he was thinking “Oh, it’s just a student bar in Nottingham, who gives a shit?” I don’t care if you have just finished playing gigs in London, Manchester, New York or Tokyo, there is never a reason to phone it in. You get to play on stage for a living, fella, we have to go back to work tomorrow packing groceries and cleaning toilets, put in an effort, will ya? 

I had started to write him off completely when from out of nowhere, he busted out a sublime solo during My Patch. With a few flicks on his guitar, he had reeled the crowd back in. Unfortunately it was his last song. 

All in all it was a great gig. It was quite a relaxed atmosphere with a nice mix of people in the crowd, absolutely enormous beers, a mopey Mancunian, southern alte rockers and a mighty fine hot dog. I could definitely think of worse ways to spend an evening.

Photos by Dave Blenkey (c)

Jim Noir and The Breeders played Nottingham Trent University on April 10 2008

Jim Noir website
The Breeders website

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