Regular readers will’ve seen us bang on about Isle of Wight band, Plastic Mermaids over the last year or so and some of you may’ve even followed our advice to go and see them play live.
You might even have been lucky enough to be in the audience of the sell-out gig at Quay Arts at the top of the month, which, incidentally, we heard had the longest waiting list for tickets in the Quay’s history.
Building the anticipation
From what we were told, it sounds as though the gig could’ve been sold out twice over and we’re not surprised. We’ve seen the band play live in a variety of venues over the last year or so and have always been highly impressed. The latest gig was no exception.
As the audience made their way into the theatre, we started to get an inkling of what the band had in store for us. The stage was jam packed with instruments, whilst atmospheric blue and green lighting illuminated the carefully positioned branches seen popping up around the stage, helping to create an eerie, somewhat magical, woodland scene.
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As well as the regular five band members (brothers Doug and Jamie Richards, Chris Newnham, Tom Farren and Chris Jones), guest strings were provided courtesy of Becky, Cathy and Frances, second drums by Shane Mummery and additional vocals from Rhian Teasdale, Lottie Field and members of the Camerata Choir.
Ethereal music and ambience
Plastic Mermaids’ sound is very hard to slot into a particular genre. For the purposes of online music service, Soundcloud, they’re classed as ‘experimental’, which is definitely accurate but not descriptive enough, we’d like to add ‘ethereal’ to that definition.
Hand-made instruments, playing guitar with the bow of a cello, mixing classical piano with synths and having a choir unexpectedly appear on stage, all contributed to the uniqueness of what Plastic Mermaids have to offer. Something we haven’t seen elsewhere.
Standing (and stomping) ovation
The response from the audience at the gig was incredible. Song after song was met with loud applause and cheers from the appreciative audience and 15 tracks later the band were rewarded with a standing ovation, such as we’ve never seen before.
We were treated to two more pieces before the end of the night, the first a drum break accompanied by a light show from drummers Chris and Shane complete with head torches, and then the amazing ‘lazer gloves’, sported by Doug, were brought out for the band’s finale piece, Taxonomy.
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The stomping response from the audience was so intense, for a moment we thought the bleachers might collapse.
Luckily all was still in place as the band made their way off the stage and we all survived the night, able to share across all forms of social media, our immense excitement with what we’d just experienced
Plastic Mermaids, if you didn’t realise it already, your audience loved you.
Buy the debut EP
Their next gig – which is also sold out already – is the EP launch in London on 31st March.
You can pre-order Plastic Mermaids’ debut EP through Cross Keys Records
