Stanley Brinks and the Wave Pictures - Hop, Wakefield, 8/3/2014

  by Helen Tipping

published: 3 / 4 / 2014

intro

At The Hop in Wakefield Helen Tipping watches former Herman Dune member Stanley Brinks and indie rockers the Wave Pictures play a chaotic but likeable set to promote their new joint album 'Gin'

Stanley Brinks was originally a member of Herman Dune, changing his name when he left the band from Andre Herman-Dune to Stanley Brinks. He has teamed up with the Wave Pictures for an album, 'Gin', and accompanying tour. The Wave Pictures are a London based indie band, who seem to be constantly touring and show up in Leeds and Wakefield on a seemingly regular basis. They are only indie in the sense that it’s very hard to fit their style into a box, given that it is very eclectic. The support tonight comes from Freschard, a French singer/songwriter originally from Burgundy, and now based in Berlin via Paris, where she met Stanley Brinks, who wrote some songs for her. The Wave Pictures and Stanley Brinks are her backing band for the night – this is an improvement on the last time we saw her, as this time while there is again a covers band playing downstairs it can not be heard over the top of her singing. I can’t help but think that Freschard’s quirky lyrics and slow, bluesy music is wasted on a drunken Saturday night crowd. At one point there is a stage invasion by a lone drunk woman, who keeps trying to dance with Freschard as she plays. Luckily the front row decide to be security for the night and pull her down, and proceed to dance with her to keep her occupied. At least she’s a happy drunk, and not a chatty one like the people behind us who haven’t heard of any of the acts, but have spent £8 to see what they’re like and then talk through it because it’s not their thing. Stanley Brinks encourages Freschard to have a go at a guitar solo – not for the last time in the evening pushing other band members to stretch themselves – even though it’s something of a band internal joke. She isn’t a lead guitarist, and she knows that. The audience are as supportive as the band though, and give her a round of applause. After a short interlude, Stanley Brinks comes back on, but the Wave Pictures are nowhere to be seen. Are they held up by the queue at the bar, or just chatting to fans? Who knows? To fill the void, and stop some dreadful joke telling by drunk audience members, Stanley Brinks does the first song solo, to almost total silence. The Wave Pictures return, and the gig commences with the full band. The sound is Moroccan blues – or maybe it’s just the camel references that make me think that. No, it really does have an Arabic quality to the music that owes more to Stanley Brinks’s influence than that of the Wave Pictures. As well as singing and playing guitar Stanley Brinks also plays the soprano saxophone, which creates an otherworldliness to the music. For 'Will You Love Me More?', Jonny Helm, the Wave Pictures’ drummer, swaps sticks for complementary vocals, with guitarist David Tattersall playing drums. Stanley Brinks does warn Johnny that he likes to freestyle the title chorus line of 'Will You Love Me More?', and he certainly does – Jonny makes a valiant attempt to copy some of the more complex versions, but he’s not quite there yet. They finish with the single from the album, 'Orange Juice', which is well received by everyone there, and then it’s back downstairs for us as we escape from the covers band in the main bar, so that the magic of the music isn’t spoilt for us.

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