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| Area 11: Leo Taylor, Alex Parvis, Tom Clarke, Jonathan Kogan |
Before the world wide web became the worldwide phenomenon it is today, an aspirational performer would have to gig, travelling around, playing in dingy little pubs and cellars to audiences of ten people. And maybe, just maybe, one day they might be spotted by a talent scout, or develop an actual following. It's how The Beatles did it, it's how The Rolling Stones did it, it's how Ed Sheeran did it. But Sheeran is a rare modern example- in the internet age, someone looking for an audience can just upload a video to Youtube for the world to see. That's how Justin Bieber did it- although there are many who wish he hadn't.
It's also how Area 11 did it. Formed in Nottingham in 2010, and currently consisting of lead singer Tom Clarke (Sparkles*), guitarist Alex Parvis (Parv), bassist Jonathan Kogan (Kogie) and drummer Leo Taylor- who doesn't have a nickname- the band started uploading Youtube videos, and through the site formed a friendship with The Yogscast, a Bristol-based collection of highly popular internet video game commentators. It's from there that they gained a large amount of their (mostly teenage) audience, an audience that grew so large that they started touring. And that brings us to Edinburgh on the 13th November 2014.
The venue was Cabaret Voltaire, a small industrial-rustic style club just off the Royal Mile, and it was jam packed with a sea of excited young faces, with some older, stubbly ones dotted around, and a group of parents sat at the back with slightly bemused expressions on theirs. There was quite an unusual atmosphere to the place. Never having been to a gig with such high young teenage attendance, I unexpectedly felt a comradeship with them; I knew they had all found this band through the internet, the same way I had. We were all Youtube subscribers and Twitter users, grouped together in a stuffy cellar to see a band we liked. Hardly anyone there knew each other, but there was a sense of cohesion between us that I've never felt before at a gig.
Three people who must've been acutely aware of that cohesion were Scott Tulloch, Marième Corlett and Jamie Dunleavey of MayHeGo, the support band for the night. After an unassuming entrance onto the stage (Tulloch, the band's guitarist, later told me that they "don't usually do shows"), the trio launched into a barrage of intense, grooving instrumental tracks that started small, then built and built with layers of drums, solos and sky-shot riffs to create a special sound. Ambient and heavy, there’s a relentless, driving quality to their songs, which got an initially unconvinced crowd dancing along- despite them perhaps not being the crowd that MayHeGo attempts to covet. This band has a style that people can really get behind; the fact they set foot on the stage to silence and left to claps and cheers is proof enough of that.
Area 11 made the same understated entrance, but this time it was to shouts, screams and outstretched arms. And, without a word, they started to play. Their signature blend of Western rock and Eastern influence pounded out of the speakers, and everyone in the audience jumped and cheered and sang along accordingly. And so it continued for the next hour, a journey through their more well-known songs from All The Lights In The Sky like the frenetic, pulsating Vectors and the anthemic Heaven-Piercing Giga Drill, their older material, and their most recent release, the Underline EP. Whether it was a song they'd known for years, or Override A, their newest song- which Sparkles* confessed they "weren't quite sure how to play"- the crowd was enraptured, reaching forwards, singing every word right back to the four guys onstage. And those guys responded, thrashing their way through the setlist- Taylor's arms a blur over the drums, Kogie assuredly providing the bassline for Parv to riff, solo and rock out to, and Sparkles* in the middle, confidently swinging and catching the mic, bouncing around the stage and delivering the strong, powerful vocals everyone in the audience knew and loved. And once their set was over and they'd left the stage, the chants calling for "one more song" brought them back out, something that Sparkles* stated they "hardly ever do".
Stepping out into the cold Edinburgh air after the show, I knew that this was one of the best gigs I’d been to. It was loud, it was powerful, it was fun. Area 11 may have started out on the internet, performing around a microphone, but in that room, stood playing their songs just a couple metres from an adoring crowd, it's clear that they have transcended it. The only way is up for this band- all the lights in the sky couldn't stop them.
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