The venue I guess fits the sound of the band. Gulliver’s is yet another Manchester venue, this one located in the more bohemian Northern Quarter; downstairs it’s a pleasant enough ‘indie’ pub, upstairs there is the ‘live music room’ as described on the sheet of A4 tacked to the wall. It’s a real spit and sawdust traditional music venue, a room not designed for the purpose but made to work all the same, its boozy, its grimy, carpet that has assumed a colour hitherto un-described but only seen I similar locations, it evokes thoughts of what many recall THE INCA BABIES sounding like.
However and as if to confuse the situation front man Harry Stafford steps to the front of the stage bedecked in a smart but suitably lived in suit – obviously sombre in colour, wouldn’t want to shake things up too much!
The Inca Babies open with ‘Phantom Track’ taken from their 2010 album ‘Death Message Blues’ and immediately I am struck by just how cleverly constructed the song is, thoughts that do linger long as the opening notes of ‘Grunt Cadillac’ take me back to 1984 as they tumble from the speakers. We remain in the past for an excellent rendition of ‘Opium Den’ but then the gig stops bluntly to allow a snapped bass string to be replaced. A new string prompts newer material as we get ‘Shake Your Soul’.
The set continues to fluctuate drawing material from the Inca’s ‘heyday’ to tracks from ‘Death Message Blues’ and even new previously unheard material – what strikes me is that despite the differences in the basic style of the material; the ‘swamp rock’ of yore to the more bluesy current output, is just how well the two sit alongside each other. Clearly Stafford’s song writing and voice being the identifiable constant; that said it's interesting to hear just how the band have developed. What we have is a group of accomplished musicians at ease with themselves and their surroundings.
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The more recent material allows Stafford’s words to be heard; the songs, in particular those form ‘Death Message Blues’ are full of sentiment. Stafford has previously described them as laments, however they veer away from being sentimental, there are elements of nostalgia, how can there not be when you front a band with a near 30yr history but that nostalgia does not become mawkish.
As indicated Stafford was clearly enjoying himself, introducing ‘Buster’s On Fire’ in self depreciative tones, clearly mocking his own bands obscurity; The Inca Babies are Manchester based yet haven’t played here since 2001 and some fifteen years precluded the a previous gig..
‘Lung Knives’ and ‘Burning Town’ were dusted down and that was it until they encored with 1984’s ‘The Judge.’
If you get the opportunity go and see The Inca Babies, they really are rather good – not easy, they haven’t updated their own website for a very long time, and the Facebook page is equally bereft of detail; but they are certainly worth the trouble.
Inca Babies on MySpace
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