Northern Ireland has a habit of creating bands that may not be critical darlings but they know how to rock like their lives depend on it. Can Vanilla Gloom reverse this trend?
Derry being the UK City of Culture and Smalltown America’s continued promotion of new music has helped Northern Ireland’s second city when most of the limelight is often on Belfast.
News headlines in Summer often portray Ulster in a poor light which I have no intention of getting into. What I will say is that no matter what small minded behaviour takes place on either side this Summer, there will always be an ALTERNATIVE ULSTER.
The first week of July saw a name pop up in Scottish gig listings that I hadn’t seen before. By playing shows with bands I know to be more than decent, my curiosity then asks the question – who is Vanilla Gloom?
BRO-DUDES AND POP MEDIOCRITY
In their own words, “Vanilla Gloom are an all female, post-punk/grunge influenced three piece who count Queens of the Stone Age, The Breeders and Babes in Toyland as influences.” They hail from Belfast.
Such is the male influence in the music industry, all-female groups tend to get off lightly when it comes to constructive criticism. The same music being played by only guys would rarely get the same attention. That’s not the band’s fault of course. Hypocrisy comes in all shapes and sizes.
At least it’s not as blatantly sexist as the video games industry which generates horrendous stories on a seemingly weekly basis. An issue that I’ll keep raising because as a gamer, those stories make me livid.
I’m as bored of all the bro-dude characters in video games as I am of auto-tuned, scantily clad pop groups dancing like amateur strippers in music videos.
Only in countries as lacking in proper sex education and lacking a willingness to engage in open sex discussion as there is in the UK & Ireland, do you create the type of environment where such lame titillation can generate an audience for pop mediocrity.
In video game generations past, the 16-bit era gave us imaginative characters like Toe Jam & Earl, Ecco The Dolphin, and Dynamite Headdy. 3D graphics and the rise of marketing as part of the green light process has done a lot to water down fresh ideas to appeal to the lowest common denominator. You only have to read the story about the lack of publisher interest in a new Timesplitters game to realise how far backwards the industry has gone.
VEXED RED
That vexed tangent lasted longer than expected. The good news is that Vanilla Gloom’s latest release, a three song EP entitled Vexed, has more of their own embryonic ideas than those borrowed from 90s riot grrrl bands.
Of the three songs, opener Wolves is possibly the weakest simply due to it sounding like a carbon copy of any of those bands from that movement. Fans of very early Ash may draw comparisons to the song Uncle Pat which featured in a Heineken advert. A harsh criticism you could say, especially when firstly, this is a young band from Belfast still finding their feet and secondly, some fans of riot grrrl bands will undoubtedly love the opening track.
As a fan of Wild Flag, Veruca Salt and The Breeders, let’s not kid ourselves here. Those are very high standards to aim for, especially when recent Glasgow shows by Wild Flag and The Breeders have been truly exceptional.
Vanilla Bloom, much like my take on Min Diesel yesterday, are my kind of band. Tracks two and three from their EP point to a deeper understanding of the canvas upon which they create their art. The verse-chorus-verse trap is slightly less noticeable on Lemons and Wine and Vultures.
That’s not to be confused with the Scottish band Bear Arms whose song Vultures is the best impression of a Biffy Clyro / Thursday hybrid Scotland has ever produced. You can use that as a positive or negative depending on your own taste.
Scotland’s definition of post-punk in the last ten to twelve years would have been defined by bands such as Desalvo, early Degrassi, and Senator. Add wider known UK bands such as Mclusky or Part Chimp to that mix and then the idea of Vanilla Gloom being post-anything as a pigeonhole doesn’t really hold up. If they see themselves as post-punk then they’ll need to try harder to move away from anything vaguely alt-rock and Courtney Love-esque.
They are much closer to noise-grunge or classic 90s riot grrrl punk with lo-fi tendencies. Scottish kindred spirits of 2013 would be Garden of Elks, Pinact, or Miss The Occupier. If I was a member of Vanilla Gloom I’d definitely be chatting to those bands about future gig swaps and mini-tours.
Until they visit Scotland again to make more friends, listen to their EP over on bandcamp and keep an eye out for them. Northern Ireland has a habit of creating bands that may not be critical darlings but they know how to rock like their lives depend on it.
Alternative Ulster has another emerging talent to add to its collection.
LISTEN TO VANILLA GLOOM ON BANDCAMP
WATCH VIDEOS ON THEIR YOUTUBE CHANNEL
