Still Traffico with Radiator and Paradise Taxi at Paper Dress Vintage

A review of Still Traffico's headline gig at Paper Dress Vintage, with support from Radiator and Paradise Taxi - an evening of exceptionally high quality songwriting and performance.
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On the 12th of December I ventured down to the vintage-clothing-shop-turned-bar-turned-gig-venue, Paper Dress Vintage, in Hackney. I’m not sure whether the venue could be classed as a hidden gem, or if I’ve just been living under a rock, but either way, upon my arrival and answering “Who are you here to see?”, I made my way to a small upstairs gig room that was full of character. This gig was a headliner for post-punk band Still Traffico, with support from alternative band Radiator and indie-rock-pop band Paradise Taxi, who I had been kindly invited by.

Radiator kicked off the night at 8:30pm, with their group made up of drums, bass, two electric guitars and the lead singer. The first thing I noticed was frontman Ollie Ledwith’s unique and effective stage presence, seeming completely nonchalant as he wandered around the stage with his hands in his pockets. The rest of the band contributed to the unique visuals, with the bassist’s technique in particular catching my eye, as he hunched over and played very low down on the strings.

The band’s originals were distinct with their own recognizable sound, yet with very effective levels of variation between each, leaving me excited for the next one each time. The transitions between songs were slick, especially between their opening song to the second, in which a moment of silence – where the audience started clapping – was cut short by a segue into an exciting guitar riff. The second, Untitled song, proved the band’s speciality, which to me was their distinct and memorable riffs. I’ll refrain from going into all the technical jargon but I found the harmony of this song particularly awesome, notably the guitars harmonizing on the riff. Their inventive use of harmony also stood out in their fourth song, Settle, which I’ll describe as suitably lush due to the extended chords.

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The band showcased some impressive and catchy lyrical hooks, such as ‘I don’t dream of anything anymore’ in Settle, and the repetition of the ‘cigarette’ motif in Solace which resulted in some audience members singing it to themselves after the band had left the stage. They had very clean alternations within songs between a heavier and lighter sound, especially prominent in Glass, and decorated their strong riffs and chords with exciting drum patterns and occasional higher backing vocals from the bassist and electric guitarist. Radiator’s set was completely engaging, immersive, and exciting, highlighted by Ledwith’s unique stage presence and passioned vocals.

Paradise Taxi were up next, with a line up of bass, drums, and two electric guitars, with one being played by frontman Joe Jenkinson. The group were enticing before even starting their set, as their tuning and warm-up involved some pretty funky slap bass. They kicked off with some brilliantly fast strumming all on one chord, creating an instantly exciting atmosphere, made all the more special by Jenkinson jumping in the air when the beat dropped. It was clear that each member of the band were absolutely loving being up there, and their enjoyment of the music was quite contagious.

It seems they had a groove written specifically for when Jenkinson was introducing the band members, which was a lovely touch. This led nicely into their second song, Don’t Be A Lover, which demonstrated their inventive ways of creating textural variety with their instrumentation, starting with just vocals and bass. Another notable example of this was the beginning of Beautiful Mess, with a drum and bass groove joined by some beautiful echoey guitar over the top. A contrasting, quieter atmosphere was created in their fourth song, Instead, interrupted a little by the abrupt guitar sound, but still creating space for Jenkinson’s heartfelt performance.

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paradise taxo

Photos by Hannah Murrell @hjmurrell

Jenkinson wasn’t afraid to belt – at points going as high as a top Bb – and it was fabulous. His strong vocals highlighted some of the band’s most catchy tunes and lyrics, with one that stood out in particular being Bethany, built on the rhyme of ‘death of me’. Their final song, Getaway Driver, felt particularly memorable as an ode to their band name, and with the audience encouraged to join in. They held on to their final chord for as long as possible, and even longer, creating as much excitement as they could right until the very end of their set. The band’s originals were catchy, varied and energetic, and their performance was a genuine delight to watch, due to the band’s own enjoyment, their interactions with one another, and Jenkinson’s confident frontmanning.

This leads us onto the headliners, Still Traffico. Their line up was similarly bass, drums and two electric guitars, with frontman Cam McColl on one of them. Their more relaxed and inquisitive atmosphere drew me in straight away, and they exercised a different form of strong stage presence, one which was calmer and more hypnotic. A large part of this was down to McColl – he mainly sang while looking upwards into the light, creating a melancholic and reflective impression that had quite a mesmerizing effect. When pairing this with the unique tone of his vocals, the whole listening and viewing experience was pretty special.

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The quality of songwriting demonstrated by the group was quite amazing. While often using simple chords, they made them their own through unexpected orders, extensions and more – the songs felt like classics, while having a unique original sound. Some of my favourite harmonies were in Brighton, with a clever alternating and extended idea, and Lean, which was characterised by very clean breaks in the structure of the song. They had a mixture of echoy, distant sounds, such as the guitar sound in Brighton, more intense sounds such as the opening of Heather & Jules, with distinct constant strumming paired with a descending bassline, and songs with quite a groovy feel, such as the drums and bass heavy beginning of Stick Figure. The pairing of these different sounds with the varied riffs – such as the beautiful riff melody of Who’s A Fraud, floating over the top – and lush solos made for a very enticing set of originals.

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McColl’s frontmanning was effortlessly relaxed, and the interactions between band members gave real character to the non-musical aspects of the set – notably when McColl and the other guitarist faced each other to play, or when McColl jokingly told him off for playing when he was trying to speak. I must also zoom in on the quality of the vocals throughout. McColl’s singing was incredibly technically accurate, with a beautiful falsetto which blended seemlessly with some of the higher guitar parts. His voice had an occasional scratch to it, adding another side to the sound which was perfect for their heavier songs. Occasional moments of backing vocal unison, such as in Silver Line, added a lovely colour to the top of the texture, and the speaking bridge of the same song was very effective. By the time the band had reached their final song, Stick Figure, McColl told us he’d lost his voice – funnily enough, the scratch to his voice worked perfectly with the end of the song, a brave choice to end the set quietly, with just vocals, rather than a big dramatic ending. The result of this was quite transfixing, as though the audience were hanging on to every profound last word.

Overall, I can safely say that I witnessed an absolutely brilliant night of music-making in Hackney. The songwriting of the three bands was of astounding quality, their performances were absolutely top notch, and I will definitely be keeping a keen eye out to see what they do next.

Picture of Jessie Morrell

Jessie Morrell

Jessie Morrell is a singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and writer from the South West. A huge fan of The Beatles and all things rock 'n' roll, she combines her modern and vintage influences in a prolific catalogue of songs, regularly recording, posting and performing in London and Oxford. Alongside her music-making she also enjoys acting, as she is involved in university productions, student films and playwriting.
Picture of Jessie Morrell

Jessie Morrell

Jessie Morrell is a singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and writer from the South West. A huge fan of The Beatles and all things rock 'n' roll, she combines her modern and vintage influences in a prolific catalogue of songs, regularly recording, posting and performing in London and Oxford. Alongside her music-making she also enjoys acting, as she is involved in university productions, student films and playwriting.

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