Bristol bands: a primer

Every student should know a little about Bristol’s musical pedigree before getting stuck into gigging. Here’s a quick guide to just a few of Bristol’s best bands, by Alexia Kirov (second year English).

LICE

An article about Bristol bands in 2017 couldn’t begin with anyone other than LICE, an art-punk band of University of Bristol graduates. Whilst their single The Human Parasite has a sound reminiscent of Fat White Family and The Fall, the best way for you to get an idea of what LICE are like is to experience them live.

I was lucky enough to get to chat to LICE and ask them for their advice for any incoming Bristol students interested in starting their own band – after all, it was only a few years ago that they were freshers themselves.

“The best piece of advice we could offer a new band is to do your own shows! We wasted months asking venues to stick us on existing line-ups and received no replies, until The Crofters Rights suggested we put on our own DIY headline show there.

“Secondly, engage with the local ‘scene’. Howling Owl, Breakfast Records and Stolen Body all put on amazing shows; they will expose you to a lot of exciting and interesting new music. We also found the University’s resources really useful. We met by advertising for bandmates on the Bristol Livesoc Facebook page, and spent our first year practicing for free in the basement of the Students Union.

“We’d also recommend that people be outgoing and make the most of this opportunity to make new friends, as we’d have gotten nowhere if we didn’t have a bunch of our mates come to our first shows and help us get the word out.”

Massive Attack

Massive Attack are by far one of the biggest names in music to hail from Bristol. Lauded by some to be the founders of trip-hop, their 1991 single Unfinished Sympathy – rated 63rd best track of all time in an NME poll – is an obvious, but brilliant place for those unacquainted with their work to start.

Whilst the band haven’t released an LP since 2010, they are still very much active; single The Spoils, featuring Hope Sandoval, was released last summer. If rumours are true that founding member Robert Del Naja is in fact also Banksy, whose art adorns the streets of Bristol, then band are an even more integral part of the city’s culture. But even if it’s a myth, it’s still massively important that anyone moving to Bristol has a listen to Massive Attack.

Portishead

Along with Massive Attack, Portishead are deemed trip-hop pioneers. 2017 marks 20 years since the release of their second offering, Portishead, which yielded the hits All Mine and Over.

To hear another side to the band, listen to Deep Water, from 2008’s Third. Beth Gibbons’ distinctive vocals are the hallmark of a Portishead track, but accompanied only by gentle ukulele chords, it’s certainly different to the band’s better known material. There aren’t many bands that can pull off uke and avoid sounding twee, but Portishead manage it wonderfully; it’s no wonder that they won an Ivor Novello for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.

Apartment

Apartment were a short-lived post-punk band that should have gone on to great things. Take a listen to The Alternative, which appeared on the seminal late ‘70s Bristol compilation Avon Calling, and you’ll agree that Apartment deserve to be remembered today.

Granted, after the band split, its members went on to find success with other bands – most notably, singer Alan Griffiths began working with Tears For Fears. Sadly, Griffiths died earlier this year. But as a comment on the YouTube upload of their single The Car aptly puts it, “Apartment are the best band that nobody’s heard of”, so the best tribute we could give Griffiths would be to get Bristol listening to Apartment once again.

IDLES

Since IDLES first formed in 2012, they have released a string of well-received EPs, and finally put out their hotly anticipated debut album, Brutalism, in March this year. Whilst Well Done, Mother and Slow Savage are particular standout tracks on first listen, a case could be made for any song on Brutalism to be dubbed the highlight.

With one of the most powerful debuts of the year under their belts, and their barbed political lyrics, Idles are just the sort of band we need more of in 2017. They recently played at Simple Things and were one of the highlights of a packed programme. Keep an eye out for future gigs.