GIG REVIEW – Three Trapped Tigers / Constant Waves / The Broken Oak Duet @ The Sunflower Lounge 23rd April 2016
The name ‘Sunflower Lounge’ conjures up images of open windows letting in a summer breeze that has blown across miles of open meadows. Not very likely the case, located next to one of Birmingham’s busiest ring roads and tonight, host to three bands that aren’t likely to soundtrack the average OAP outing to the village green.
This is my first visit to this venue, which from afar perhaps has a wiff of hipster about it, but actually conceals a small but perfectly formed live venue within its bowels. I assume my position for tonight’s tantalising threesome.
The dubious please of getting the ball rolling falls to Worcestershire’s The Broken Oak Duet, a two piece act featuring a baritone guitarist and drummer. The baritone guitar allows the stringster to adopt rolls of both bassist and rhythm guitarist which keeps the economics of band membership simple to be sure. Fears of an incomplete sound are pretty quickly booted out the door. There are plenty of two piece drum/guitar acts out there but they need to be good to present a full and engaging experience. These guys are good, and have already settled into a sound which is their own. The riffs are strong, complex yet catchy, and very tightly delivered. The drumming is sharp and lively, swinging from technical to galloping balls out rock and back again. Musically I heard nods to the musical output of Steve Albini’s Shellac outfit, perhaps some noisy QOTSA riffing and a touch of Sabbath in some of the straight up rock out segments. I will conclude my appraisal by stating that while they are complete and perfectly formed as is, it was hard to resist the urge to get up and grab the mic to splurt out some Mark E Smith style vitriol and venom over their angular compositions. That would work so nicely!
The filling of the sonic sarnie tonight are Constant Waves who hail from the West Midlands. This makes tonight a relatively home town gig for them and they clearly have some followers amongst the audience of some of the banter is anything to go by. Another instrumental band, excepting a few inter beat grunts and shouts, Constant Waves have more of a tip of the hat to the expansive post rock scene. However, where as many such acts can wallow at the slower end of the tempo spectrum relying on swelling crescendos to drive home their message, these guys kinda go straight for the jugular with upbeat and, it has to be said, positive and major key sounding songs. There’s nothing morose about Constant Waves tonight. The players are enthused and the heaviness on offer is almost pretty at times. Fans of And So I Watched Her From Afar and Caspian will appreciate what is on offer here from this well gelled four piece
I have followed our trio of confined exotic big cats since their beginnings in 2007 but have never been lucky enough to catch them live before tonight despite them having heavily toured with the likes of Deftones and the Dillinger Escape Plan. I managed to have an engaging chat to drummer Adam before the show (which interested readers should track down on one of our shows or podcasts in the very near future) which only served to further whet my appetite. Within seconds of the set beginning the attention of the assembled was grabbed and held by near impossible to follow percussive gymnastics and healthily fat bass heavy synth sounds. The word ‘heavy’ can be used in different ways. Your average metalheads might suggest that Slayer or Meshuggah are heavy. Your average fan of home grown herbal remedies might describe a particular plant induced experience as heavy. Three Trapped Tigers are heavy too, in a way that might encompass bits of those analogies and a few more besides. I find Three Trapped Tigers quite musically unique, treading ground between the progressive synth soundscapes of John Carpenter or Zombi, the frenetic output of The Algorithm or Aphex Twin and the guitar assault of band like the Melvins and Deftones. Anyway, back to the show. Despite the 
complexity and intensity of some of the material, Three Trapped Tigers are a band at ease performing together. They make their efforts seem effortless which somehow drives their songs home harder and deeper. Shared smiles accompany banging heads as mighty bass synths, arpeggiated melodies and fluid guitar work all nailed down and then prised back up again by a percussionist extraordinaire. There are even some vocal harmonies in the mix which makes the genre tag of ‘instrumental math rock’ somewhat less accurate. Three Trapped Tigers successfully glue together music that makes you dance with music that makes you think while also being ‘heavy’ enough to appeal to the rock crowd. No mean feat and one that I am glad to have witnessed.
