Godflesh

Derby Vic

July 15 1999


Well, when I arrived, there was a DJ doing his thing as the support slot. Strange. I mean, I don't understand it, and wouldn't pretend to. It didn't really move me as such, and it seems like the attempt to merge disperate sounds into one. But there were times when it seemed ok. Like I said, I just don't understand this sort of thing enough to really comment. But one thing that struck me was that virtually everyone that was in there was sat down. No movement or anything. Yet it felt to me that without a band there producing the sound, the focus was more on the crowd to do something. There wasn't that visual focus. In some respects, although it was totally foreign to what I'm used to, it makes you focus more on the music, which at the end of the day is what it was about. But I dunno. I'm confused. Which is probably a victory really for the guy doing the stuff.

Godflesh. yeah. Another in that long list of bands that I've never gotten round to buying anything by. But I was curious to witness them. And the impressions it left were that it was extremely intense. Yet my mind was drifting off a lot of times, thinking about other things. Maybe that's unfamiliarity with the music. It was definitely twisted stuff, from the overkill distortion on the vocals, to the sheer volume it was played at. If like me you suffer from tinnitus, earplugs are most definitely recommended for the Godflesh experience. And stick your head in a bucket of water if you think I'm a wuss for wearing them. The sounds made me think that this was genuine underground music. It's kind of scary. It's sounds almost bolted together to create something.Yes, it was noise. There are times when it works, times when it doesn't. It was ok, but I can imagine other times when I would've felt it was utter shite. The walls are reverberating from the sound. But the people down the front are getting it. They must recognise what is being created here, because creation is what it feels. Like some music flows, some is created. For me, they probably played about 15 minutes too long, I think this should be delivered in short doses. For the people that understood, it was probably too short. Whatever it was, it was one of the most aurally challenging things I've stumbled across in a long time. Will I be back? Dunno to be honest. I could take it or leave it.