The Band That Time Forgot

Friday 6 Feb 2004
Yorkshire House, Lancaster.

Reviewed by Doug Leece

6 band members crowded onto the small stage at the Yorkshire House

Bass guitar; keyboards; Dougal - drums; lead guitar; DJ; Gully - Sax; (this is incomprehensible - ed)

This seems to be one of the better Lancaster bands at the moment; well worth going out to see on a cold Friday night in February. The Band That Time Forgot are primarily an instrumental dance band, crossing a range of musical genres, including drum and bass, rock and reggae.

The crowd were slow to warm up on Friday, but once they got going they seemed to enjoy themselves moving on and off the dance floor.

There only seemed to be about 30 people in the room until about half past ten - quarter to eleven. As often happens in Lancaster, the crowd swelled to double that in the last half hour.

There is a contingent of entrance tax dodgers in Lancaster who only ever seem to arrive for the climax of the evening. Usually when the person on the door is cashing up and they are let in for nothing. I have nothing against people being late occasionally, but the same faces keep turning up to events in the last half hour - usually having spent all their money on beer. This pisses me off for several reasons, two of which I'll mention now.

The door tax last night was the price of a pint. Two quid. Do the maths. How can a group of musicians continue to develop when a door take of this amount is shared between 6 band members? Do door tax dodgers expect musicians to pay for the privilege of playing to them? Its a wonder there's any live entertainment in Lancaster at all with this prevailing attitude.

Door tax dodgers ensure that many events only reach critical mass in the last half hour when its free to get in. This has a knock on effect for those who turn up early. Going out early is a less exciting prospect when the room is only half full and does not reach critical mass until the last half hour. I'd just like to say to these door tax dodgers that if you want quality live entertainment in Lancaster then go out early and pay on the door. Perhaps people would like to let me know their views about this issue. Who knows? We might be able to start a Go Out Early campaign for enthusiasts.

Anyway, back to The Band That Time Forgot. There was a lot going on in the band all the time. This kept things interesting. However, it often felt that the stage as well as the music was over crowded so that the rhythms were sometimes muddy. At times it would have been better to let fewer instruments play. Perhaps having the odd solo. The mix on the desk didn't help either. It sounded like all the instruments were up front all the time.

For what is essentially a dance outfit, the band need to be a lot tighter and seemed under rehearsed. On several occasions I wondered why the lead guitarist was in this band at all. Okay so it's his band, but apart from my favourite tune of the set: Police and Thieves (the Jnr. Murvin number) he seemed to add very little. Much of what he was trying to play seemed too difficult for him. I'd suggest replacing him with a vocalist / percussionist. This band has huge potential, unfortunately we only got a glimpse of it on Friday.

Gully - the saxophonist - was competent and added some very catchy rhythms to the mix. I loved the way he moved on stage. I get the feeling that Gully's going to just get better and better with practice.

Copyright © Doug Leece Feb 2004