The Research take to the stage, the place is filled with the coyest, most awkward looking indie kids. One guy has even brought his WHSmith’s carrier bag with him. Russell claims that this is going to be “one of their best gigs”. Mainly this is because they’ve had enough of playing Barfly venues.
Welding the bass we have moody Bettie Page-a-like vixen Georgia. On crappy Casio keyboard there is Russell displaying horses on his baby blue t-shirt, with a Charles & Di badge on his baseball cap. He also has a mischievous glint in his eye and the words “The Disaster” are emblazoned on his chair. Lastly there is the sugar coated drummer Sarah looking like a refugee from Californian band The Like. As a whole The Research crew look like they stepped out of a bedroom rehearsal. This is reflected in their relaxed, warm onstage presence and indie dream pop sound. Think of St Etienne taking The Beach Boys for a stroll down the seaside boulevard on a blue skied day with everyone contributing to the vocals.
Tonight there are no visuals or crazy theatrical frills, but Russell sees the set through with his amusing onstage banter about their feminised yet burly sound man or how Georgia plays bass like Eddie Cochran. When one of the audience protests at the amount of chat between songs, he claims it’s a “gap filler” in order to program his keyboard settings for each song. But it’s obvious he knows how to keep people entertained. The majority of their songs are taken from current album Breaking Up with the exception of I Think She’s In Love and Codename Flamingo. The audience are charmed and The Research come back for an encore before disappearing back into the summery evening they deserve.
