Guineafowl

Thursday 18 March 2010

Venue: Oxford Art Factory

Support band:The Cadres

When I was invited to see Guineafowl I went because it was free and I like Oxford Art Factory. I’ll admit I was pretty sceptical that I would actually enjoy Guineafowl because all I had read was that after making a few demo recordings on his laptop the lead musician/vocalist began performing solo e.g. in someone's kitchen before getting a band together. By the sound of that I thought they would be a very electro computer generated based band. Especially as Guineafowl have been labelled as ‘Indie-tronic’.

When you approach a band with this kind of scepticism it reflects wonders on the band if they are able to actually flip your initial judgment completely and win you over. This is what Guineafowl did for me. I would opt to see them again even over a much more established band.

There are definitely enough band members with instruments in tow to ensure this band is not too on the computer sampling side of things. I would even go as far to say they look pretty cluttered and could lose at least one member. They are described well on polaroidsofandroids.com as "creating a lovely brand of cluttered jangly electro pop". Guineafowl have strong guitar riffs but it is the lead singer’s voice that really makes this band. His voice has been described by triple j presenters as having similar qualities to Talking Heads singer David Byrne. I notice this likeness most in track ‘Little Fingers’; the chorus sounds exactly like Byrne.

Guineafowl definitely don’t give off the all too familiar Sydney band vibe of trying to present themselves as being too cool for anything. They have catchy lyrics and a really fun feel. I’ll admit I have become very friendly with their my space page over the last week.


I expect big things from this band. ‘Botanist’ the song has been played on Triple J as well as receiving regular airplay on Fbi Radio. I recommend you go along and see them sometime soon for a dance. They are playing at Good God Small Club Wednesday 31 March with Bridezilla.

There’s an interview with Guinea fowl here.

And I’ll end with a quick mention to The Cadres; indie-rock four piece. This band are not afraid to be loud and appear to be quite Nice guys if you care to read this article. You can find their music here.