Toupé wig-out at VEF fund-raiser

A Vale Earth Fair event last Saturday saw the welcome return of UK act Toupé. Tom Girard was there...

For their first fund-raiser of the year the Vale Earth Fair Collective pulled out all the stops for a night of what could broadly be termed rock music, featuring some well-liked visitors along with some familiar Guernsey faces playing in unfamiliar arrangements.

Hitting the stage first were new band Of Empires, though for any regular gig-goers at least several of its members were familiar.

Featuring Jack Fletcher on vocals, George Le Page on drums, Mathew Berry on guitar and Liam Bewey on bass, Of Empires plays a style of hard rock with a very 1970s feel, but with its own twist.

This was a pleasant surprise to me as previously Jack has been known for his heavy metal vocal style, but here he got to display another aspect of his voice alongside some great musicianship from the rest of the band.

For a first gig, Of Empires played with a slickness which showed the previous experience already held by the band members.

While tonight was clearly still a band getting used to its own sound, starting out like this hints at great things to come and I'm looking forward to hearing the debut single which is due out next month.

After some sounds from DJs Alex Psymons and Binaryreaper, who treated us to some intriguing rock-pop-metal mash-ups, Jersey two-piece FalenizzaHorsepower took to the stage for a set of avant-garde heavy rock.

Combining just a bass guitar – along with an array of loop pedals and a drum kit, Dave Spars and Steve Hutchins unleashed an ocean of sounds at once crushingly heavy and intensely delicate and flowing over the appreciative audience, who had ventured onto the Tav's dancefloor (though not really to dance) like waves of art-rock noise.

Playing only their second show, due to geographical differences and several members being in at least one other band, Black Capsule hit the stage like the bastard offspring of Radiohead, Muse and Pink Floyd to deliver another set of sounds designed to flow over and wash around the listener.

While the majority of the set wasn't as intense as I remember from the debut gig last December, Black Capsule nonetheless played a great set of original songs unlike anything else being played in Guernsey at the moment.

The highlight of the band's set came with the final song.

This built up a crushing wall of intense sound augmented by synth noises from Jo Reeve, who downed his guitar for the track, and a Theremin played with astounding proficiency by The Crowman himself, Mark Le Gallez (guesting with the band for this song).

Finally on the night, and playing to a crowd which seemed to have shrunk somewhat and was a bit reticent about moving forward, came Toupé.

While playing this late in the night seemed to have left Grant (on bass) and Jay (drums) a little the worse for wear, what they may have lacked in slickness of performance they made up for in terms of entertainment.

With between- and during- song banter at a high, it is clear to see that Grant Sharkey could easily have been as a stand-up comedian just as well as fronting this drum and bass funk-punk machine.

Inviting audience members up on stage to sing backing vocals on songs and generally join in with the fun really brought an upbeat feel to the end of the night, following a couple of intense and darker-sided acts.

That may make it sound like Toupé is something of a novelty act whose music isn't worth paying attention to.

But that couldn't be further from the truth.

While Toupé may often have a humorous edge to its lyrics, the music backs it up with strength and, when needed, a surprising ferocity which had the more active members of the crowd moshing and moving along.

This may have been the first fund-raiser for this year's Vale Earth Fair, but with the big event itself coming up at the end of August talk was already happening of who might be playing there.

And while even rumour seemed thin on the ground in regard to this, last Saturday night started the path towards the festival with a bang.

• Tom Girard is the presenter/producer of BBC Introducing Guernsey. You can hear the programme on the last Wednesday of every month on BBC Guernsey at 7pm.