So there I was, Truck Fest ’06, tearing myself away from the mighty Forward Russia to go and watch a band recommended by a mate. Forward Russia were stunning, by the way, so missing them was some feat. I trampled my way, barefoot, into the Lounge Tent to the side, walked out 25 minutes later in a daze, feeling I had just witnessed a volcanic eruption of the meanest, most bizarre metal noise. It was Suitable Case For Treatment. From then on I couldn't get them out of my head - the sludgy, Melvins-y licks set to confusing rhythms and best of all, Liam Ings-Reeves – the scariest voice this side of... well anywhere, as when Tom Wait's voice box is left to drift through a dark sea of whisky and dark lyricism. Seeing them made me feel as if there was one band in Oxford that I was madly in love with – I couldn't wait to see them again.
 | | Suitable Case For Treatment |
So I got home, ears buzzing and feet well and truly mud-encrusted, flicked on the old PC, looked at oxfordbands.com and what did I see? “Suitable Case For Treatment Split”. Argh!! So tonight’s gig is Suitable Case’s last. Ever. Oxford's strangest, Jon Snow collaborating, Richard and Judy performing band to be gone, forever - playing just for one more night. I don’t know if I can hold back the tears… Mary Bendy Toy opened the Halloween-themed night with pitiful goth coyness, thankfully replaced by Oxford's finest rock/country band The Mules, whom I've previously described as a "folky polka headbang" and always enjoy the sight of. The Mules consist of the usual band setup plus a violinist, keyboard player and singing drummer - in the irreverent style of The Young Knives' Henry Dartnall. Let's hope The Mules get a good enough following to find similar success of the aforementioned band.
 | | The Mules |
The music cuts. The lights go out and anticipated cheers fill the room. I hear rattle and drum coming from the crowd. A procession of Liam and his band-mates enters the stage and launches into an impressively brutal jam. Liam paces the floor, waiting for it all to happen. The vast heaviness of Grand Mal kicks off the mayhem, possibly one of the rare SC4T songs that mostly sticks to standard song structures. The Unkindness of Ravens follows Big Clay Whale, a moving aural flight through the Suitable Case career: unpredictable silences, blasts of fast riffing and eerie but sentimental melodies. Liam's unbelievably visceral voice becomes an instrument in itself, invading the room and, hopefully to this day, still echoing off the Zodiac's sticky walls. Humour and rock is rarely pulled off: most bands trying to do so end up looking like big-headed fools with no real sense of humour. SC4T discarded that common reality and took the michael out of anything other than themselves. They were, lest we forget, one of the most unpredictable, entertaining and captivating bands in the country. SC4T will be remembered as the band who experimented bravely on the bitchy, vicious battlegrounds of the Oxford music scene. They will be sorely missed. |
