Cyprus Avenue is fast becoming the best venue in Cork right now. The atmosphere is warm and inclusive, the front of stage sound usually excellent and it's invariably worth getting there early for the support act.
Which, in the case of Cork's MY EVIL EX, means being confronted by a band not quickly forgotten. After all, the last time your reviewer came across a Mohican so lovingly maintained as singer Dylan's was probably at a Discharge gig circa, ooh, 1984.
Any notions of My Evil Ex rocking the vote as an Exploited tribute band are rapidly banished when they strike up, though. They are tight and proficient and proceed to woo us with a full, well-paced set of intelligent indie-rock. The fact Dylan spends most of the set patiently strumming an acoustic contrasts beautifully with his appearance, and his woolly-booted female co-vocalist makes for a sweet and tuneful foil.
Unfamiliarity with the material isn't a problem, and the closing tunes "Dancing Man" and "Adore" especially make their presence felt. The way the Telecaster cuts through on the darker, enigmatic latter is neat and that your reviewer came away from their set without obvious comparisons is usually a good sign. He'll happily give My Evil Ex a second look in the future.
Talking of the future, it's something that Manchester's VINNY PECULIAR is rightly looking towards at the moment. Having plied the indie fringes for the past few years, he's hooked up with perennially fantastic ex-Smiths rhythm section Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce and drafted in former World Of Twist man Ben Knott on keyboards, thus adroitly assembling a band of respected Mancunian pedigree to flesh out his quirkily effective songs of love, lust and unlikely intrigue.
Tonight is the last night of a whistle-stop Irish tour, but despite having made the lengthy trek down from Galway earlier in the day, the band are nonetheless in ferocious form. Rourke and Joyce drive in behind older songs like the weird psychodrama of "Operation" (about a man who literally thinks his heart is being permanently removed), and add a dark, muscular quality to the excellent "Replica Shirt" where Vinny addresses his lifetime's allegiance to Aston Villa FC and the band rock impressively as he dispenses the memorable "Come join the congregation!" chorus hook.
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Vinny swaps Telecaster for semi-acoustic and they launch into the terrific "Jesus Stole My Girlfriend": the song that's rapidly becoming THE Peculiar calling card of choice. Their new songs, though, make it abundantly clear VP has plenty more of similar quality in store for us. Mooted new single "2 Fat Lovers" has a Kinks-y observational edge; the louche and queasy ballad "Dirty Old Man" has a great, restrained tension and is delivered by Vinny with a tangible, Jagger-esque sneer and the already-classic "Man About The House" is a sublime three-minute blast by anyone's standards.
As with all great gigs, the set seems to go by in a flash, and when the scything guitar figures and infectious swagger of the closing "Calm Me Down" herald close of play, it's hard to believe they've been onstage for an hour - and more importantly - have gone some way in making intelligent indie guitar pop sound vibrant and slightly dangerous once again.
"Time's on my side and it always will be," sings Vinny as "Everlasting Teenage Bedroom" approaches its' climax, and you sense a tinge of real confidence in his voice. Recognition may be long overdue for Vinny Peculiar, but these days its' looking increasingly within his grasp. And shows of this calibre can only enhance his chances.
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