I helped close down a pub in Bristol. I met two Australian women on Holiday, a guy from North Carolina (who had trouble holding onto his passport), two nurses visiting the shore from London and a bar full of black leather jackets and pierced faces. One after another local Classic rock, Punk, New Wave, British blues and Alternative rock band took the small stage as we loudly pounded our Courage. The music was, for the most part, great, although eclectic and markedly different from the usual open mic night at a stateside bar.
At last call the two Australian women and I stumbled out the door in search of food. That's when I learned how Bristol breeds experimentation and novel experiences. We found a Chinese restaurant that was open at 2 a.m. for takeaway. I ordered chicken chow mein. The Oriental British lady rocker with a streak of purple hair and tattooed eyelids who took my order asked, quite seriously, "Do you want chips with that?"
I was dumbfounded. French fries with chicken chow mein. Why not? I said, "Sure," and received a paper cone of fried potatoes to add to my chow mein. She then said, "Vinegar and mayonnaise?" I looked down at my box of chicken chow mein and cone of chips and thought, "for what?" I replied, "May I have ketchup?" She looked at me quizzically as if she had never heard a request for ketchup, and calmly advised, "Ketchup? In a Chinese restaurant? I don't think we have any, but, let me check."
The next morning I awoke to Moving Forward Over The Next Financial Quarter, a four track EP by the Bristol band Hello Lazarus that is scheduled to be released by Scylla Records on April 22, 2013. True to its Bristol origins, it is complex, contradictory, a melding of styles with the slight taste of bitterness of a room temperature ale. Well, maybe the last part was just in my mouth when I got up. Yet, on Moving Forward Over The Next Financial Quarter you will hear a grand alternative rock, punk, new wave, wall of sound. Paradoxically, all of that sound comes from what is essentially a pub power trio.
The EP provides a twist on mainstream alternative rock. More like Muse and, fortunately, less like Coldplay. The first track, the band supports with a video, is "When In Rome.” It typifies the sound of Hello Lazarus - hypnotic, slightly punky, slick and theatric. The remaining tracks - "Get An Axe," "I'm No Explorer" and "Stallion" - are twists on the formula.
According to Hello Lazarus, Moving Forward Over The Next Financial Quarter is just the first of three EP's. Like a good chicken chow mein with chips, dashed with vinegar and dipped in mayonnaise, consumed in the middle of the night after a pub crawl, I suspect the music will greet hordes of its fans rising after an all-nighter. Hello Lazarus.
- Old School