Many years ago, I went to a gig at my local music venue. I didn't know who would be playing, but this was a really small venue so it was pretty typical for me not to know what band would be playing. Anyway, it turned out that there were actually two main attractions of the evening. So after the support band finished, the first of those attractions to take the stage was a fairly light-sounding band known as "Coldplay" whose lead singer would keep trying and failing to hit high notes. I remember thinking that the band was great, but that they should ditch their lead singer. (For those who know the band and are surprised that he seems to be able to hit high notes now, I'm pretty sure they use an autotuner. A lot more singers do it than you'd expect nowadays to hide it when they occasionally sing slightly off-key.)
Coldplay were followed by the other major attraction of the evening. Another up-and-coming band named "Terris". Apparently they'd already received a lot of praise from the NME earlier in the year heralding them as the next Joy Division. (I'm not quite sure what they meant by that, but basically they liked them.) While listening to Coldplay had involved standing and listening, possibly with a bit of bobbing of the head, Terris had a much more visceral sound. The crowd were jumping around to the sound and the atmosphere was incredible.
The next day I knew I'd had a great time, but I'd only heard the band the once and so, as is usual, I was struggling to remember what the music had been like. I was keen to hear the music of Terris again, so I rushed to the local music shop the next day to see what was in stock. All that seemed to be available was a single called "Cannibal Kids" which didn't really seem to capture the excitement of the night before. It was alright, but didn't represent the band at their best.
Coldplay's album came out and they got a lot of attention while I was waiting impatiently for Terris to release something. Some have suggested that perhaps the hype was too great. EVERYONE was clamouring for this album so nerves were no doubt riding high. Still, I was more than a little surprised to find that this glum design was chosen for the cover:
This album was the last thing Terris ever released. It received rather mixed reviews and sales were not high. It's a real pity because I still remember them as "the band that gave a better performance than Coldplay". Here's a few songs from the album to give you a taster of what that performance might have been like and what this band will never develop into.
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I'd describe the album as "a good start". I still have fond memories of that night when I saw them live and it makes me sad to think that there'll never be any new music from this band. Still, maybe that makes me all the happier for what music they DID release. Some bands get better over time and some never get better than their first album. But I'd still have liked it if Terris had the opportunity to show us which way they were going to go, because I've a sneaking suspicion they'd have fitted into the former category.
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