The Cryptics - Lennons Review

Hi all,

I promised myself that I would go and see The Cryptics live. I've been listening to their stuff in the car for about 2 weeks. So last Friday I left, at the last minute, to get to Lennons.

A quick note on this venue. If you are a band, you can do better. There is room for 3 people on that stage, no more. The sound guy is crap and doesn't move from his Troll hole and the stage is more of a recess into the wall.

It is the most uncomfortable place as a punter to be. You spend 10 minutes in between each band staring at the sound guys ass as he repositions the (pointlessly) mic'ed up drum kit, or generally gets in the way of the guitarist or bassist. That and it stinks of piss. And its dead. No, I mean dead. Even though it could hold about 100 people with elbow room.

The Cryptics were on at 9.30 so not exactly early, and I was expecting there to be a bunch of students in there as its on the way into town. I counted about 20 people in there.

I learned something valuable that night. Venue does matter. Did they play well? Yes. Was it a good set? Yes. Was it a good gig? Not really.

I met 2 out of 3 of the guys, and they seem like a great couple of blokes, but I think we all knew it wasn't going to be great.

The only advantage with the venue was that it was reasonably easy to get some pictures.

I will have to see them again to do this properly. Their next gig is at The Brook on the 1st, which is known for buzzing with people who like music and people not stinking of piss. I can promise that it will be a much, much better event.

The Cryptics play The Lennons

Hi All,

Quick update for you.

The Cryptics are playing The Lennons in Southampton this Friday night.

Tickets are £5 (the band want to eat this week) and there may be an opportunity to be photographed with Andy's snakeskin boots.

So get down there to look at his boots, and maybe get a photograph, and maybe even listen to some great tunes.

See you there!

Meet The Cryptics

Hi All,

Come with me and meet The Cryptics. 1/3 of which is bent on world domination, 1/3 is influenced by Dennis Bergkamp and the other 1/3 has 1/6 of the bands knee problems.

Read on to find out what they said when I went to find out more:


1) I haven't been following you long, where have you been and where did you come from?
AP - We're a three piece based in Hampshire, formed in January this year and consist of Ryan Osborne (Guitar & Vocals), Andy Pritchard (Bass) and Simon King (Drums). Sim and I have been playing together since we were 12, I hadn't played in a band for a few years and was really missing the buzz of playing live. So we started having a few jams with Bass & Drums down in Southampton before Christmas 2011 and searching for a front man. We had heard about Ryan and invited him down for a jam, we immediately clicked and within half an hour Ryan was improvising lyrics over some of our first riffs. We were blown away by his melodies and his range - that was that, we were formed.
RO - I'd been writing songs looking for a band to bring them to life....luckily I met these guys. I was really impressed, it was clear they'd been playing together for years. It didn't take long for us to get tight.
SK - Andy made me do it. I was reluctant at first, then we found 'Bry' and I thought this guy is the next Jeff Buckly - but with balls!

2) How would you describe your music?
AP - it's hard to say, we've written 10 songs so far and everyone's very different - if we played you the songs individually you could probably put us in 10 categories – when pushed I'd cop out with 'rock 'n roll'
RO - Yeah, there are elements of soul, reggae, as well as rock n roll....and we're growing as a band, so it's early days.
SK - Vital.

3) What was the first album you bought?
RO - I think it was Green Day, Dookie.
AP - The Clash, London Calling - it's still my favourite album now (although i have bought more since!)
SK - St Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band on cassette from Our Price. Think I win bitches!

4) Who are your influences?
SK- Dennis Bergkamp
RO - Radiohead, Muse, The Strokes a lot of sixties bands, all sorts really. But then an idea for a riff or structure could come from anywhere.
AP - The Clash, RATM, RHCP, Radiohead, I also played in a Reggae / Ska band for a year so I'll say Various Reggae Artists

5) What venue would you really like to play, who would you support and why?
AP - I like little sweaty venues where the crowd get involved - I like to support bands I don't know well - I love new music and like to be surprised
RO - I'd like to play a venue that has people watching and a good sound, and I'd support Andy because of his dodgy knee....it just doesn't sound the same when he plays horizontally.
SK - Madison Square Gardens, O2 Arena or Glastonbury. Rather headline with QOTHSA and Radiohead supporting us, I like the sounds of that!

6) What is the most stand out moment you've had so far?
RO - Playing The Joiners in Southampton last Friday....it was a real buzz.
AP - When we recorded our Demo within 24 hours BBC introducing we're playing it - Was a nice surprise to get on the radio so quickly and gave us a massive boost
SK - Doing this interview.  [your pint is in the post - Ed.]

7) What was the last thing you bought for band use?
AP - Big Muff distortion pedal - makes me screw up my face every time I step on it
RO - A lighter
SK- Cowbell and some Liquorice rizla

8) What do you do when you're not on stage?
AP - I'm a builder so I spend my days trying not to cut my fingers off......
RO - Write songs and plan world domination.
SK - Get screwed by the council, 9-5, 5 days a week.

9) You had your very first gigs not long ago, how did you feel before going on?
AP - Excited - hadn't been on stage for a few years and my ego was diminishing!
RO - Really excited to get to show people what we could do after a few months getting the songs right.
SK - Like the Fonz

10) Whats next for The Cryptics?
SK - "Gonna Get Some More.... Gonna Get Some More... Gonna Get Some More" are those the lyrics Bry?
AP - We'll be gigging regularly in Southampton, Portsmouth, Brighton & London over the next few months - we've got to choose which new songs to get recorded in the studio and get them out - definitely have some new material recorded by the end of June - and I'm particularly looking forward to playing Frolic Fest in August.
RO - I'm particularly looking forward to world domination.

The Cryptics can be found on facebook or you can find them at their next gig at Eastney Cellars, Southsea on the 8th June

Thanks for reading,

The Cryptics

Hi all,

A shout out to The Cryptics, the soulful vocal indie pop rock group with a kicking b-b-b-bbbb-b-back-beat.

They had their first gig the other day, and from their facebook page it seemed to go really well.

If they come a bit nearer Southampton I'll definitely go and have a stomp.

"The Last Word" sounds like some form of 2 tone Ska funk deal, while She Saves the Day sounds like the Stereophonics on uppers.





You can find them online here:

http://www.thecryptics.co.uk/

or their soundcloud here:

http://soundcloud.com/cryptics3