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Every Check Engine show has been well attended and every performance was intense. Most of the punters had no idea what to expect, but most were out on the ‘Sweep’ reference. The only thing heard by most was the insanely short 1.5 minute ‘Where’s My Social Worker?’ MP3 download from the website. Southern had branded them as Sweep’s popier little brother, but this was plainly not the case. Each song is short and sharp – straight to the point, which is a rarity these days. Yes it’s twisted – yes it’s accessible – yes it puts a great big smile on your face. I would challenge anyone to come to one of their shows and not enjoy themselves. They arrange themselves in a cross shape on stage, with the drums moved forward to allow a guitar and bass player to stand behind, and to the side of the drummer which in turn makes for more room. The crew consists of Joe on guitar and vocals. He has two personas - the quiet academic off stage, and the all out rock guy on stage - all passion is put into the vocals while jerking around the stage bouncing off his guitar. There’s Brian (Swayze) on drums, who looks like he about to explode at any given point, due the effort made with hitting those poor skins. Paul (Tits) takes up the bass position, and while not pounding those strings into submission, looks at the audience with his staring Andy Kaufman eyes shouting “you fucking tossers” in his best Queens English, much to the bewilderment of the crowd. Them come the two faces we already know from Sweep. Chris, still head down, hair flailing, punishing his guitar, but not too many stage antics this time around – except tonight, when he decides to jump on the PA stack during the last number, falling onto the monitors and the crowd (while still playing naturally). Steve adds to this melle, with the sometimes-subtle sax and singing, before it becomes the lead instrument. There are small pieces of subtle genius in some of these songs. ‘Bold Style’ has the whole band whooping in the middle, and ‘How Bad (Do You Want It)?’ has flamenco style hand clapping – most bands couldn’t get away with such acts of un-rock-‘n-roll but these guys can, and do. But the sum of all these parts? It’s a great roller coaster of good music and fun. Not pretentious. Not complicated. Just great music. We love Sweep but we now also love The Engine. Thanks guys, it was great! skippy |