65daysofstatic

I can’t say I had any expectations for 65daysofstatic; in my world they were another band amongst a list of other recommendations. I went to a small one day festival in Nottingham recently and this band were officially crossed off that list, and jumped onto my list of top 10 bands of 2009; yes, I have got mental lists for everything.  As I walked to the venue, I tried to suss out what the band would be like, based on the audience; and they weren’t giving anything away. There were young people from every sub-culture and older people. The only information I was given about them apart from “they’re really good” or “you should definitely see them” was that they were post-rock, which my sister kept repeating, as I kept asking her what their sound was.  

The four piece band graced the stage one-by-one, precisely when they were needed to fill the endless lonesome beat protruding from the previous band members’ instrument.  The instant the first band member mystically appeared and began playing his electronic keyboard, I could already sense the buzz of 65dos was real; this felt like a band I was going to regret not listening to earlier.  

As I stood at balcony level eagerly peering down; the whole band were finally united, the crowd which was now the biggest I had seen in that venue on the day, were clapping and cheering uncontrollably. Now the hard part, describing their ‘experimental / industrial / electronica’ sound, according to their MySpace. There seemed to be a familiar pattern within the songs they played; they seemed to start with a slow sombre rhythm as though teasing the crowd and then it would pick up gradually until the entire room was filled with a triumphant, harmonic post-rock, heavy industrial sound, it would then retreat back to it's eerie restful sound and the whole climatic ride would begin again. There was an unexplainable reserved yet compelling energy from the band members particular from the lead, whose mannerisms and appearance had an uncanny resemblance to Thom Yorke.

Even being as far as I was from the band, I could still feel the waves of passion and emotion erupting from every chord strummed in each song. The band were humble with their over adoration from the many visible fans in the crowd, that the lead made a joke, I assume,  about being eager to find out JLO’s top 5 hip-hop / r’n’b songs. Their emotional instrumental sound reminded me quite a lot of one of my favourite bands, explosions in the sky; even their band name sounds like a song title explosions in the sky would have.  One of my sister’s favourite song, radio projector, was played and her and the crowd recognised it the instant the first few notes were played on the keyboard: a passionate live crowd adds to half the quality of the performance of a band when you don't know them. I don’t really know what more to say about this Sheffield band, than i’m in the process of purchasing one of three of their albums.