Cut Ribbons & Beautiful Strangers

The original idea for the combination of bands playing in Llanelli on Friday night was odd to say the least. Local indie dream pop heroes, Cut Ribbons have a gig coming up in London next week so after a few acoustic gigs, they want to play a warm-up show with the full band. So far, so normal. What surprised me was that they decided that the best preparation for this was to open for System Of A Down UK in the Masons. As it turned out SOADUK had to pull out of the gig, the day before, to be replaced by glam-rockers, Beautiful Strangers. Either one of these bands playing would have guaranteed a good crowd, having both along with punters who had planned to watch SOADUK as well, ensured a packed house.

Beautiful Strangers have built up quite a following in Swansea and around Wales but it has been quite a while since they last played a gig in their home town of Llanelli. The boys play full-on glam rock, in the style of Aerosmith or Van Halen and I’m sure if they were about in the 1980s, they would be playing gigs along side bands like that. Saying that, the boys have played in Swansea with Diamond Head and have a gig coming up with Puddle of Mud.

Although Beautiful Strangers’ sound is rooted in American west-coast rock of the 80s, they do not sound dated in the slightest and, like Aerosmith, they are still relevant today and have an audience who are fanatical about their music. Like their American influences, Beautiful Strangers, have a flamboyant lead singer in Stuart Dade Davies, who swaggers about the stage with aplomb. Although his on-stage persona may seem like arrogance to some, I can assure you that off-stage, Stu is a lovely person and his on-stage persona is all part of the show.

Beautiful Strangers’ large following can be put down to their catchy sing-along choruses and memorable hooks in songs such as Shame, Shame, Shame and I can’t lie, which are still bouncing around my head long after the gig has finished. It’s not just the quality of their song writing but also the quality of their performance which makes Beautiful Strangers so entertaining.

Cut Ribbons’ sound, and also their line-up, has transformed in the last few years that I have been listening to them. Vocalist Aled Rees, told me that he has been listening to a lot of French electro outfit, M83, lately and their influence is noticeable in Cut Ribbons’ current sound, moving from a guitar lead band to one that uses more keyboards and samples in their set. This not only sets them apart from most indie bands playing on the local circuit but also gives them more scope for a change of sound during a set.

Although they may sound more electronic now, they can still write a good guitar track and I definitely spotted some Joy Division influence in one of their new tracks. It was not their only new track of the night with Cut Ribbons playing a track which had only been finished the day before the gig. Aled did ask me not to film that song but I think he made a mistake by telling me that as the song was played perfectly and went down really well with the large audience. The quality of Cut Ribbons’ performance and the uniqueness of their sound shows why they have built up such a following on the live circuit and festival scenes