Speed Beaver Music

TBU visited High Wycombe for the first time last Thursday to open in a great lineup including Melodee Rockmore and Slashed Seat Affair. Both these other bands were great and you owe it to yourselves to go look them up on MySpace and check out their stuff live but for now I’ll just be concentrating on the TBU part of the gig because they’re just too good and time is short.

TBU, if you don’t know already are a 4-piece comprising of Kelly BlowUps on rhythm guitar and lead vocals, Arda Payir on Bass, Marc Weber on Lead Guitar and Cem Andre on Drums. Their songs have strong melodies and centre around alternative rock but occasionally dip into oldskool punk.

I’ve been following the band for nearly 2 years and know all their songs inside out but still like to listen to their stuff live a great deal. The set list has changed quite a bit over the last year or so, moving away from their more punky roots and towards a new effect-driven and more contemporary sound although some of the old favourites still remain.

Every set is invariably opened by the 2 minute ‘Black Out’ (their ‘Jumping Jack Flash’ if you like), the opening riff of which could easily feel at home on something from 1977. It’s short, to the point, immediately memorable and utterly brilliant. The next 28 or so minutes are filled with an enjoyable variety of great songs. ‘Without Your Love’, an ode to relationship uncertainty lyrically but which is carried along by melodic and rhythmic optimism is fantastic – Pop-tastic ‘I Don’t Wanna Talk About It’ rocks hard with a big smile and has a great solo – The quiet number of the set ‘Choke’ let’s everyone have a bit of a breather before we’re plunged into the current high-point of the set (in my opinion at least) ‘Stake Through The Heart’ which is lyrically another complicated relationship type affair and musically a barrage of everything that a 21st century rock song should contain. There are other more contemporary-sounding songs in the set, becoming more and more the rule rather than the exception but some punk examples keep sneaking back in, which is not a bad thing at all when they’re as infectious as ‘Yeah Yeah’, which could easily have been lifted of Blondie’s eponymous debut, but wasn’t and the great set-closer ‘Superhero’ which is, after much of the lyrically heavy songs in the set a real tonic, even though perhaps the underlying metaphor is still one of longing.

Sombre lyrical undertones aside, The Blow Ups current set is far from depressing and I would urge anyone who enjoys decent song-based rock ‘n’ roll to check them out as they are, in my opinion, one of the greatest unsigned bands playing this type of music in London right now.

Life may be trying its hardest to be miserable enough these days without we need to wallow in music that echoes this trend. TBU are fun and Kelly as a focal point is amazing to watch, if a little sweary at times.

The Blow Ups are playing next on the 19th June at the excellent Cafe De Paris off Piccadilly Circus.
See you there!

TBU MySpace