Out From Animals

Out From Animals first came to my attention back in February at one of Manchester’s eclectic MonsterMonster DJ nights. The night was a Mighty Boosh themed wet dream and the band kick started the night off, with their electronica rock.

Walking into Jabez Clegg this time around, I had my doubts. The venue was sparsely packed, with most of the fans sitting down in small groups and talking amongst themselves. The venue seemed hollow and bleak, and I wandered what sort of atmosphere could be pulled from 50 people.

The set up felt like a high school battle of the bands, but the venue had split into two rooms, and each band playing against another one. This concept I simply could not understand. Flitting from one band to the next was not only ridiculous but tedious too. The main doors being left open meant that sound from the next one wandered into the next, causing a great distraction and I was left with the feeling if I was missing out on something when watching a band for longer than 5 minutes.

The lack of crowd meant the energy was low, and most of the unsigned acts didn’t seem to have the charisma or effort to entertain such a minimalist crowd. I almost felt embarrassed for them, looking so lost and performing to a few friends. Ah well, we all have to start somewhere right?

By the time Out From Animals came on I was praying for something good to keep me in the venue. Steadily, the crowd was growing larger as people streamed in to see the headliners, and I felt the atmosphere picking up from its lethargic state. Something was lacking from the band from the first time I saw them, but they managed to lift the energy with vocalist Action Andy jumping on stage and attempting to get the crowd to move with him. The impact I had felt they’d first made at MonsterMonster didn’t seem to hold its own, but as the set progressed I came to the decision that this was due to the bad choice of venue, which was far too large for the small crowd and seemed to suck the sound away.

However, despite these set backs OFA are enjoyable to watch. Action Andy is an enthusiastic performer and he works well with the rest of his group. Songs are catchy and when given in the right environment, are pretty hard not to move too. Combining a mix of electro, rock and techno beats, the sound is varied and pumping and has the right mixture of lyrics to prove as interesting, but not so complex that they prove impossible to sing along to. 'I never let my schooling interfere with my education' and 'Gossip' (with its random string intro) are personal favourites.

OFA deserve acclaim for experimenting with as many musical mixes as they do and actually managing to make them gel well together. Too many bands these days seem to throw anything together in the hope that it will sound electric or different, when in actual fact it just sounds plain wrong. OFA have the energy and enthusiasm to give you a good night to dance too, just make sure you catch them at the right time.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.