Whilst Richard Fearless booms out the retro-techno in the main room, Mark Rae tunes up with Talking Heads 'Once in a Lifetime' as Fingathing commence to blast off in the funk room.
The crowd tonight are pretty messy, there's the trainspotting hip-hop heads circling the stage like vultures to check the deck wizardry.
By way of warning, turntablist maestro, Peter Parker informs us things are gonna get heavy as the first disc, a sample of a jazz guy Ben Sidran, brings on the noise and the funky s***.
Fingathing are from Manchester, two chaps, both young, who met via playing live in Rae & Christian 3 years ago. Their debut album, The Main Event (Grand Central), arrived just before Christmas to critical acclaim.
Tonight, Peter Parker, ex-DMC champion, and Sneaky, who plays an electric double bass carved like a lady with her hand of her hip with FX pedals, are rocking out the beats in synchronisation. 'Ffathead' gets the crowd jumping, a girl next to me asks if they're any good, as I say, the crowd are in a bit of state.
It's the first time I've seen Fingathing and it's pretty cool that they can repeat what's been achieved on the album. If they're playing near you, check them out.
After a few more tracks Peter Parker is doing the Spiderman shuffling deck wrecking thing solo and the set does indeed get kind of heavy.
From the previous Jackson 5 type samples, 'Slappy's Tune' turns into a drunken struggle to find the beats to hold onto. Between the bleeps of the Mini Disc as Parker attempts to find the right loops, the double bass miraculously turns into a cello and the darkness ascends over 'Big Monsters Crust Cities'.
'Sneaky' reverts to using the instrument as a double bass, like Hendrix plucking a duck. The next single, 'Just Practice', featuring Mr Scruff is out at the end of February.
It's a party record which was pretty much recorded in one take after a cheese and wine session, five decks and a microphone stylee.
Daft as you like, these boys. The set flies by, as does the night. Smokin, original, modern & old skool all rolled into one phat one. Groovy.
