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Photo Gallery of Big Wave Riders, The New Tigers, and Black Twig at The Old Blue Last in London, England (May 14, 2013)
For Finnish indie bands, playing outside of their country is not a regular occasion, unlike American performers who seem to pop up in all corners of the world. But thanks to Music Finland and Projekta, the Helsinki-based label, Soliti, were able to transport three of its acts to put on a guitar effects pedal-studded showcase at The Old Blue Last in London. Big Wave Riders, The New Tigers, and Black Twig all are rooted in the steel-stringed chordophones, yet each group offers their unique love affair with the modern music’s most popular instrument. Big Wave Riders, who are also appearing at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton the same week, dishes up many flavors of British post punk tradition, while The New Tigers take on a warmer psychedelic fuzz, and Black Twig goes for the more cerebral distortion - a truly great evening of what Finnish indie rock has to offer. Though most of the time, the bands looked like they are about to star in an updated version The Cure's "Close To Me" music video on a stage that enclosed like a closet space. And the dark, creaky joint only reinforced the the divey, artsy, lo-fi state of what we used to equate as the "indie" music scene. And yes - beer, whiskey (including a bottle from Portland, Oregon), and cigarettes saturated the rainy night.
