The Stills @ Newcastle Carling Academy, Sunday 22 April 2007 Canada, possibly the most right-on peace loving nation in the world, wasn't exactly renowned for being a hot-bed of indie alt-rock - after all this is the country that gave us Brian Adams AND Celine Dion! Things are slowly changing for the music scene in Canada. Bands like Broken Social Scene, Sunriser and of course the super cool Arcade Fire, prove that there is more to those Canadians than Mounties and Mooses. The Stills came blasting in to our sub-conscious in 2003 with follow thoughtful types Interpol, and the slightly mental Death from Above 1979. So when Montreal five-piece The Stills take to the stage in front of a mostly drunken Tyneside audience do they come out fighting and with all guns blazing? No, not really, five average looking blokes dressed in black amble on stage looking slightly bemused at what drunken debauchery is unfolding in front of their jet-lagged eyes. Intelligent but friendly | "The melodic sound of The Stills is unquestionably English. Referencing everything from Johnny Marr's Smiths guitar lines to early Radiohead." | | Kieron McGuinness |
The melodic sound of The Stills is unquestionably English. Referencing everything from Johnny Marr's Smiths guitar lines, early Radiohead and the sensitive types in the Brit-pop movement. Think the likes of Gene, The Longpigs and Suede. A ten-song set takes in the best of latest album Without Feathers and the post-punk cutting edge of their debut Logic Will Break Your Heart. Destroyer loses none of that punky edge, containing the lyric "I hate you and your blood" it somehow, even with its sinister under-belly, contains all the good time glory of horn-tinged Brit-pop at its very best. Still in love sound checks all those great English bands, as intelligent as anything that ever flowed from the tip of Morrissey's and Marr's pen with all the radio friendliness of the Doves. Rock and roll spirit Come the end of The Stills set it is apparent that the lack of impact created by the band is more down to the Academy's now legendarily inaudible sound system rather than lack of ability on the band's part. Those in tonight's crowd who knew the music of The Stills were clearly appreciative of what they where hearing. But unfortunately for The Stills, you get the impression that most of the crowd tonight have no interest in hearing anything other than the Kings of Leon's back catalogue. By the way, if you are that girl who managed to throw up all over the bar whilst still pogoing to Molly's Chamber's I salute you. The spirit of Rock 'n' Roll is well and truly alive and kicking and you, my friend, are the very embodiment of it! | 
