THE BETA BAND

Can you believe I've seen these guys live once? Can't even remember where I was, most probably London, (or was I in Belgium? Yeah, Belgium)  but I do remember that I went to see them just because we happened to be there at the same time and because I'd heard of them, like, three weeks earlier and listened to their Three EPs once or twice. I was so avid for concerts then. Hell, I even saw the Killers too, that's how famished I was. Fucking loser guitarist took my beer from the top of the speaker, took a sip and threw it in the crowd, all rock & roll and shit. I want my 5 quid back, asshole, the show sucked.

Aaaanyway. The Beta Band. Now these guys, on the other hand, were very nice. Maybe too nice. I don't know what the hell happened. I mean the ingredients were there: good music, nice place, good crowd. They really tried. They put on a show. They talked to the public, made jokes! They switched instruments every two songs, for god's sake, the bass player took over the keyboard, the guitarist switched to drums, whatever, I can't remember. They were good. But somehow the magic refused to happen. People clapped politely waiting for the next song, but didn't really get into it throughout the whole show. Steve Mason - vocals - I think that halfway through the show he actually said something like "Right. The show actually starts now", just to loosen them up a bit. It didn't work.To this day I don't know why. Maybe their set was too eclectic and people couldn't really get a handle on the whole thing. Maybe too mellow, nothing hard enough to wake them up from their just-another-gig routine, I don't know. I mean, you go to Portishead, you know what to expect (milk cup, pillow, razor blade); you go see NIN, you know what to expect (ear plugs, crowbar, razor blade). But with this bunch people just got confused, I guess. A shame. Because you know eclecticism is indeed possible. Ween. But Ween overlay their personality and their unique type of bond on every style imaginable and unite them. Beta Band were kinda just jammin'...
Or, yeah, sure, you can be mellow and laid back, no problem. But, dude: Eels. Check out the vocals on that. That guy is bored with a vengeance! And not like Cake, just flat, you know, but really really aiming for the narcoleptic demographic. And I mean that in the best possible way. Go all the way, dude, don't just  wander aimlessly all over the map, we're living the remote control age, people switch off in freaking nano-seconds, man. Grab them.

Well, anyway, having just watched "High Fidelity" for the zillionth time (also watched "The Secretary" again. Boy, does that movie rekindle your faith in love and the feasibility of human intimacy or what? Ha. loved it again.) - this following song caught my ear in the movie. Rob puts this song on in his shop and predicts he's gonna sell five copies of their album in, like, the next ten minutes. He's right. The song is catchy, humable, yellable, danceable, everything. Makes you feel good too. I know it worked on me anyway. But you can see how they have no real bark there, you know. It sort of feels like it was meant to be sang in the shower, not exactly on Wembley. I still like it though. I wish I had more days when I felt like this song....

Beta Band - Dry The Rain


Here's the live version, as well, so you know what I'm talking about. Well, I saw them in Belgium, here they were home, in England, people knew the lyrics and everything, so the ending might give the wrong idea.
But on the other hand, who knows, maybe I'm judging them only by the one concert that didn't work in their entire career. On yet a third hand, they're no longer around, so...

The Beta Band - Dry The Rain (live)