Hypnotica's Gig Reviews 2005

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Trademark  @ The Victoria Inn, 12 Midland Place, Derby 17/06/05

Support: DR COCACOLA MCDONALDS, ROBOCHRIST, THE DEATH OF ARTISTS £3 Entry

Intro:

I thought the band were on sometime after 9pm so we turned up at around 8:20pm and none of the support had started by then and Trademark were on at 10:30 so we floated around a few local pubs before returning around 10pm. We only caught the end of one of the support bands who I have since discovered was "Dr Coca Cola McDonalds" not Robochrist who apparently pulled out. He was bare chested & daubed in paint as well as face painted to match. The music consisted of, cheesy drum machine, 'dodgy' samples, ranging from rock records & adverts etc, broken up by loud grungy guitar & dubious vocals. Towards the end he asked the audience something I couldn't hear & he strummed along to anything they suggested. I think the high / low point depending on your point of view would have to be his rendition of "Shopping in the Derby Eagle Centre" which made us laugh (this is the main Shopping centre in Derby) but surely no one would buy this? However that's only my opinion and it's not my kind of music so each to their own. Shortly afterwards, Trademark appeared & started setting up their gear.

The kit was as I had seen on the photos on their website but for those interested; there was a Studio Electronics Rack Synth ATC-1, Novation A-station, Clavia - Nord Micro Modular, Oberheim OB-12, Korg MS 2000 Keys, Roland Juno, Yamaha DX-9, a few controller keyboards and a few more rack mount goodies.

The set began with an empty stage and Vocoder intro "We are Trademark" as per the mighty Kraftwerk's Die Mensch Machine intro, then the music began and the band walked on stage dressed in white lab coats which had multi coloured LED lights down each arm - cool………

The set comprised of 6 tracks, all of which were vocal Synthpop, loosely in the style of Pet shop Boys / Human League / Soft Cell but not a straight 80's revival and often with harder edged 'club' beats.

With only one exception (Sine Love), all the tracks were high energy dance orientated pieces and were a mix of tracks from the new album "Want More" and new material which is likely be on the next Trademark album that they are recording at the moment.

(See opposite for the confirmed set list)

All members seemed confident throughout & there were no technical bloopers - everything went fine & the fairly small (20 max) audience seemed to be suitably impressed. Mid show, the band ran off stage and returned, dressed in black & during one of the tracks ( I think it was Square Wave Anger ) Oli (the lead singer) walked into the audience like a zombie - which was a bit unexpected! At least 4 or 5 people were taking photos or filming the gig throughout

Although I have only recently discovered the band I already have a firm favourite track, the fantastic synth ballad, 'Sine Love', and they played it towards the end of the set. This was the only slow track of the night but very uplifting and melodic

The set ended with the band holding up large black lit up boxes with the bands 'trademark' (no pun intended) Plug design - which looked pretty futuristic.

As it was a small gig, I was able to chat to the band at the end and get their autographs & chat about Synths and their influences - which was great. They all seem to enjoy the popular classic Synthpop electronic bands, Depeche Mode, Kraftwerk & Pet shop boys more than the more experimental & instrumental 'Tangerine Dream' for example.

Having spent almost 30 years listening to Electronica I would say Trademark are fairly unique, it's Synth-pop for the modern age, 'commercial' but not 'too' commercial, they are techno/electro enough to appeal to Kraftwerk fans but accessible enough to appeal to the masses. You can easily imagine that in a bigger venue with the same ideas but a more expensive set, the results would be a visual treat! The stills from when they supported the Human League suggest that too

Hopefully this could be the start of something big and it was a privilege to be there at one of the smaller gigs.

 

 

Review copyright by Mat Mckenzie www.hypnoticbeats.co.uk 

 

 

Trademark (Press Photo)

Trademark: Photo by Mat MckenzieTrademark: Photo by Mat MckenzieTrademark: Photo by Mat MckenzieTrademark: Photo by Mat MckenzieTrademark: Photo by Mat MckenzieTrademark: Photo by Mat MckenzieTrademark: Photo by Mat MckenzieTrademark: Photo by Mat MckenzieTrademark: Photo by Mat MckenzieTrademark: Photo by Mat Mckenzie

 

I have checked with Trademark themselves & the confirmed set list was:-

1. Over and over again
2. Interim
3. So Agitated
4. Square Wave Anger
5. Sine Love
6. Come to Love