| dsoaudio | gig reviews | B-Movie/Dicepeople/Magnetic Skies - The Lexington, London

I'd made my way over from Vince Clarke in conversation with Daniel Miller on the other side of London, so I was a little late to this party. That meant I only manged to catch the last two songs of opening UK synthpop act Magnetic Skies.

Their debut album Empire Falling was released earlier this year. Anyone who is a fan of the various projects Geoff Pinckney has been involved with down the years (including The Nine, Tenek and Glasshouse) definitely ought to check out Magnetic Skies. They share the same slick, polished production and anthemic, sing-along chorus writing style that Pinckney is known for, and has seen his music being featured in several feature films and TV series - something Magnetic Skies should seriously look into.

From what I heard and saw they sounded like a seamless support act for headliners B-Movie. Their professional sound was carried through with their live performance - very sharp, and they definitely have a radio-friendly sound.

Magnetic Skies - Lexington, London 19 November 2023

Photos [L-R]: Magnetic Skies x 3

If Magnetic Skies were the ideal support act to B-Movie, then Dicepeople were, at the very least, a leftfield choice.

Self-described as dark electro for body and mind, Dicepeople have, if anything, gotten darker as the years have passed, with S&M subculture featuring both in their visuals and their lyrics. Selfishly though, as a big fan, I was perfectly happy seeing them as the main support to headliners B-Movie - a band I've followed shortly after they emerged on the new wave scene in 1980. I'd have gladly gone to see either band perform live, so to get both on one bill felt like fortuitous indulgence.

As incongruous as Dicepeople supporting might have seemed on paper, this sold-out and lively audience packed into one of my favourite live music venues, and who were overwhelmingly here to see the main act, were not just 'polite' but clearly appreciated their inclusion. Dicepeople were obviously getting their sound in front of a lot of new eyes and ears and, judging by the dancing and applause throughout their set, the bold programming by Flag Promotions had paid off.

Dicepeople - Lexington, London - 19 November 2023

Photos [L-R]: Dicepeople x 3

Dicepeople comprises Matt Brock (music) and Zmora (vocals). Brock's style of songwriting is uncommon and I like it a lot. He somehow manages to incorporate elements from various genre influences into a single project and, in the process, transmutes them into a distinct sound all his own. Then Zmora adds her imposing vocals and emotive performances on top. Finally, backed with carefully matched visuals, their resulting live shows are always a dramatic experience.

Their set was relatively varied both in style and tempo. One or two songs were new to me, and with Solitary Soul and Deeper we got a preview of their forthcoming album Wasteland. Completely unexpected was a superb and very clever cover of Willow's Song from The Wicker Man. One of their strongest tracks Synthetic featured in what they call their 'Pneumatic Version'. This version has never been recorded and only ever gets performed live and so always differs slightly every time it's performed. (I'd also heard that version in the same venue when Dicepeople played here back in February.)

If Dicepeople are new to you and sound intriguing I encourage you to check them out.

Setlist: Hurt, Solitary Soul, Dangerous Game, Gone, Deeper, Willow's Song, Dissolution, Synthetic (Pneumatic Expansion)

B-Movie - Lexington, London - 19 November 2023

Photos [L-R]: B-Movie - Steve Hovington, Paul Statham, Graham Boffey

The Lexington was absolutely packed from the bar at the back to the front of stage as the gig had sold out in advance. It was pretty obvious that many gathered here were, like me, long time fans of the band. At one point a guy next to me literally said "I'm reliving my youth!" Safe to say he wasn't alone tonight.

The original line up Steve Hovington (vocals/bass), Paul Statham (guitar), Rick Holliday (keyboards) and Graham Boffey (drums) was the band that recorded the three seminal singles Remembrance Day, Marilyn Dreams and Nowhere Girl. That line up ended in 1983, but Hovington and Statham continued with others for the recording of their first album Forever Running in 1985 after which the band split. The original four-piece reformed in 2004 and lasted through to 2022 when keyboard player Rick Holliday departed and was replaced by Keith Phillips.

It must be tricky for a band whose success (such as it was) was so short-lived and so early in their career. I guess it helps that they each went off and did their own thing in the intervening years. Hovington studying winemaking in France, writing a book about the experience and then opening a wine tasting club. While Statham's writing and production has seen him work with Simple Minds, Kylie Minogue, Dido, Peter Murphy and others.

A friend introduced me to B-Movie shortly after their Remembrance Day single was released in 1981 (their first on Stevo's Some Bizarre label). I was completely blown away by what I heard. It was an unusual combination of urgent guitars and an anthemic lead synth line wrapped in heart-wrenching words that, to this day, remain as some of the finest anti-war lyrics ever committed to a recording. "In the forest, in the snow. All those many years ago. Pale stones and epitaphs. Mourning bells and half-mast flags. In the cemetery where they fell. All those many years ago. And now it's just a memory. Eroded by the years."

As if that wasn't impressive enough, they followed that up with the singles Marylin Dreams (1982, about Marylin Monroe), Nowhere Girl (a 1982 re-release of their 1980 12" EP leading song) which charted at 67 in the UK, and A Letter From Afar in 1985 - by which time I and three friends were well and truly covering each and every one at our weekend rehearsals in an attempt to live our own synthpop charting dreams.

It wasn' tuntil 1985 that I first saw B-Movie live - at The Marquee when it was in its Wardour Street digs - around the time they released their debut album Forever Running on Sire. But by that time their unique spark had been swathed in big production values, curbing their edginess. (Something lead vocalist Steve Hovington himself admitted in an interview I conducted with him back in 2006.

Photos [L-R]: B-Movie x 3

It's accurate to say that B-Movie were a big influence on me when I first started playing and writing music in the early 1980s. And although they have released two new albums since their debut - 2013's The Age of Illusion and (the decidedly superior) Climate of Fear in 2016 - for me their pinnacle was short lived in that handful of singles before that first album.

In that respect, in my mind I always place them alongside Modern English, another band that had a huge influence on me during my formative years. Both are still around today, recording and releasing new material and touring. Seeing them both on the same bill would be terrific. Their sounds are complimentary so it would work too. (I'm not sure if that's ever happened?). Live they still have much of the same drive - albeit tempered by the passage of time and their individual shifting musical interests - which sometimes results in slightly uneven sets.

For example, tonight I barely recognised A Letter From Afar which had been ruthlessly funked up, much to its detriment to my ears. The extended 12" version of Nowhere Girl (curiously in the middle of their set) on the other hand was a highlight as it has always been, soliciting a roar of approval from the packed out venue. (Had I been on the sound desk though, I would have turned down the guitars a bit to let the keyboards do their thing more clearly.)

After an instrumental intro using an extract from the atmospheric Arctic Summer, they began their set with Another False Dawn - a highlight from their most recent album Climate of Fear. Its opening bassline seemingly drawing inspiration from Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart. Actually, they did also play a cover Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart which although a nice nod felt oddly weary, sluggish almost. Talking of opening basslines reminding me of something else, when they started All Fall Down for a split second I thought they were about to launch into a cover of The Jam's Eton Rifles! This was a rare outing for a BBC Session only recording that I'd not heard before.

We also got to hear the live premiere of a new song, penned by Hovington, called Lost which sounded good and worked well in the set. "Anyone here under 50?" asked Hovington at one point. "Or should that be 60?" he jokingly added. In fact, there was a good smattering of people well below the age of most of us here - which was nice to see.

The band seem in that good place that not many older artists often achieve, which is that they're happy to perform their best-known songs - all of which date back several decades - continue, albeit sporadically, to write new material and still get enjoyment from touring and playing live.

The lustre may have faded a little, but there remains something alluring about B-Movie. Meaning I, and a merry band of followers around the world, will continue to follow what they do with interest and always go to see them live to capture some of that intangible magic that remains.

And for that us followers can all be thankful. 8/10

Setlist: Arctic Summer (intro), Another False Dawn, For The Dreamers, Moles, Polar Opposites, Marilyn Dreams, The Light Pours Out Of Me, Institution Walls, All Fall Down, Disturbed, Nowhere Girl, Lost, Repetition, Remembrance Day - Encore: Scare Some Life Into Me, Love Will Tear Us Apart,

B-Movie/Dicepeople/Magnetic Skies

The Lexington, London - 19 November 2023

"The Lexington was absolutely packed. There remains something alluring about B-Movie"