She Keeps Bees 22/8/11

For a tiny space the Buffalo Bar venue is OK. Not too crowded, relaxed and best of all we had two of the very few barstools available.
The first support Totem Terrorist were poor and Mal summed them up perfectly; 'He thinks he's David Byrne but she is actually Tina Weymouth'. Which is to say he had his bass turned up way too loud loud and his bass and vocals drowned our her much subtler guitar and vocals which were good if almost inaudible.
The next support were a change and a surprise. I wasn't expecting much after the first act but 'Little Fish' had a lot going for them. Mainly it was the vocalist who had the attitude and energy of Patti Smith and who held nothing back. But the band were good too (fluid bass, tight drums, hammond with occasional moog as keyboards)and the songs were interesting and lively. I was getting strong Patti Smith vibes but there was also some Velvets influences there as well.
She Keeps Bees had a great line up which I don't think I have seen much before - two rhythm guitars and drums. This provided a swirling platform of sound for Jess Larabees rich, warm, intense vocals. She did a lot of stuff off the recent album and I have to say the highlight for me was 'See Me' which is a little gem of a song. But the set was quality all the way through and the main problem was that it was too short at about 50 minutes.