Ten City Nation - Dublin Castle, London, 26/5/2009

  by Anthony Strutt

published: 1 / 7 / 2009

intro

Anthony Strutt at the Dublin Castle in London enjoys a shorp, but fast set of grunge punk from Ten City Nation, the new band of several ex-members of Peel favourites Miss Black America

Ten City Nation are Mike Smith on bass and vocals, Neil Baldwin on drums and Seymour Patrick on vocals and guitar. All three members were in John Peel favourites Miss Black America. Tonight they are launching their new vinyl only split single with the Shills, and forthcoming second album, ‘At the Still Point’, which although not coming out until August, they are happy to sell burnt CDRs of to fans for £1. Their self-titled debut album was a free download, while ‘At the Still Point’ will be available to buy as both a CD and a download. Their set is short, and, fast and furious, reminiscent of early Nirvana, Miss Black America even covered ‘Love Buzz’, which was an early Nirvana song. ‘Flashing Lights’ opens the set and sounds like a grunge-filled Radiohead. ‘Tourist’ starts off with a trippy, dance sound, but heavy rock guitars and drums soon smash their way through into the music. Seymour sings this track and has a stronger voice than Mike who provided ‘Flashing Lights’ with its vocals. ‘Exhibition’ is the band's tribute to the Stones, but is more poppy and more American than any thing else. ‘AR’ has an early 90s swagger to it, while ‘Black Tie, White Soul’, which comes from the new album, has a big time grunge sound. ‘TDK90’, named after the form of cassette tape, makes you want to dance. ‘Silent Disco’ is introduced by Seymour who thanks us for not seeing Future of the Left who are also in London tonight and is a heavy rock number with two part harmonies, ‘My People’ ends the set and is fast and trippy with smooth poppy vocals from Seymour until once more the big riffs and drums kick right in.

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