soundCHECK 283 – January 22nd 2015

Mirrors, eh? Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.

For younger readers, mirrors are like selfies – except they work in real-time and play back mackle-free footage of you living and moving and checking your phone. Like a video. The downside is there’s no social share function, though I’d wager it won’t be long until mirrors come with a button stationed on the frame that paps snaps of you and uploads them to Instagram. Narcissism is a profitable market.

The thing about mirrors is that they are unforgiving, particularly at this time of year, when they ruthlessly portray you as a podgy, post-Christmas splodge with one hell of a paunch. In fact mirrors should come with some sort of warning or ARE YOU SURE? pre-screening function. With that in mind, thank God for Oh Captive having the good grace to forewarn us of their upcoming EP: Two Mirrors. Two!

Regular readers will be well-versed in soundCHECK’s tenuous links, but to avoid confusion I should probably make it clear that North Devon’s finest post-punkers aren’t about to release their own collection of reflective furniture, but a clutch of brand new songs that together reside under the moniker Two Mirrors. That said if you buy the record on CD then you could use the underside of the disk as a mirror, so perhaps we should all just settle the hell down and compromise here.

Two Mirrors (and a mirror) drops on Monday 23rd March.

From mirrors to quivers, namely those that bands will be generating for you if you buy tickets to Goff Fest. The festival from the chaps behind riotous North Devon synth-punkers The Dead Betas takes place across two nights at The Palladium in Bideford next weekend (30th-31st January) and will play host to some of the best bands in the region. Like Pretend Happy. And The Tuesday Syndicate. And The Dead Betas. And lots more too. Like One Man Boycott and Captal and Chapters Of Eden and Scud.

Goff Fest also brings some of the hottest underground national talent to North Devon and 2015’s first helping sees Dead, Novella, Allusondrugs and Max Raptor stepping stagewards at The Palladium. In Goff Fest’s own words: “Goff Fest is a grass roots festival that aims to bring some of the UK’s best touring bands to your doorstep. This is a festival for local bands as well as music fans.”

Weekend tickets are a steal at £10. One day tickets for either Saturday or Sunday are £6 each. All tickets are available from gofffest.bigcartel.com or from Beatsworkin in Barnstaple.

Plenty to reflect on.

CONTACT: Hoik your local music news over to: jharper[at]northdevonjournal.co.uk | @testforpulse