Wannabe indie?

Tonight two fairly newish bands take to the stage at the womb-like Metro in an attempt to pierce the paper thin wall that separates the confirmed no-hopers from the wannabe, upwardly-mobile, ‘almost there now’, middle-rank arsenal of trendier, zeitgeisty, Lauren Laverne-loving types.

First up is Their Hearts Were Full of Spring, with violets, hyacinths, hollyhocks, bluebells and all that lachrymose/macabre, Nick Cave/Adams Family Values inspired imagery liberally sprinkled around the stage (microphones with floral attachments, it’s like SO Victorian melodrama meets Tim Burton).

The guys have come on leaps and bounds in recent times, especially since I last saw them at the Betsy Trotwood under the moniker The Bleeding Hearts, and they’ve definitely made acres of progress since their Boy Wonder incarnation. Lead singer (and aspiring cult leader) Markus is actually showing signs of amiablity and verbosity this evening. Whatever next? Audience participation? A group hug? You never know.

So on to the Bib, and something entirely different. In fact, the early Paul Smith (accountant chic) lead singer, and his Kill Bill/Yoko Ono sidekick for the night, are definitely several degrees of separation from the aforementioned melancholic tribe. The band of misfits are fun to watch and their repertoire has some stomping good toons in it, including Jobs online and other observational oddities about contemporary city life.

All together a fun night was had by all. I haven’t laughed so much for ages (in a good way). GSG.