MetaChat - Ask MeCha: who might this band have been?

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30 November 2006

Ask MeCha: who might this band have been? On a flight from Copenhagen to Amsterdam on November 3rd, the last people to board were a group of bohemian-looking fellows, who nevertheless took business-class seats. I assumed that they must be a band, and thought maybe I had even seen them on TV, or on-line, but couldn't place them. [vague description inside]

post by: misteraitch at: 04:03 | 16 comments

The most distinctive-looking of them was a bearded, short-ish man with curly-to-frizzy ginger hair, thinning at the crown. Another was tall with straight short-ish dark hair and a 'tribal'-type tattoo on his right (upper) arm. A third had deliberately unkempt-looking, almost Rodstewartesque dark hair. I think they were British, and that perhaps at least one of them was Scottish, but my ear for picking up voices at a distance is unreliable, so that may not even be true. Anyone know if there a band who fits this profile, assuming that they were indeed a band, and not just any old group of friends?

posted by misteraitch 30 November | 04:05

The only major act I can place in both Scandinavia and Holland at the beginning of November is George Michael.

posted by mischief 30 November | 04:36

No, it wasn't George. A colleague of mine saw his concert in Stockholm though, & said he put on a very good show.

posted by misteraitch 30 November | 04:46

I was thinking Franz Ferdinand, but the dudes you describe sound a bit more rockin.

posted by sciurus 30 November | 08:24

I was thinking Franz Ferdinand too. And The Killers were in that area on that date, but are American, so the accent thing wouldn't work, and no one in The Killers strikes me as someone who would sport a tribal tattoo but you never know. Were there 3 of them, or 4?

posted by iconomy 30 November | 08:36

I think there were four or perhaps even five of them in total, but it was only the three vaguely described above that I got any kind of good look at. I think I would have recognised Franz Ferdinand or at least Alex Kapranos: and indeed these chaps had a slightly rockin'-er t-shirts & leather-jackets look than I would expect of FF. Alas, none of The Killers look ginger... I should've remembered to ask this sooner or should've taken a cameraphone snap, as now I'm struggling to pick out details from my none-too-reliable memory...

posted by misteraitch 30 November | 08:58

The Wildhearts?

posted by sciurus 30 November | 09:30

I think the Wildhearts are a little too rockin' (& too old). These guys looked in their late '20s / early '30s.

Anyway, it was a great flight for people-watching: besides the 'band' there was the impeccably well-dressed Danish lawyer (sporting a masonic signet ring) sitting next to me, and the near-catatonic young woman sitting next to him who eventually woke only to cough her way to the verge of vomiting into her little paper bag...

posted by misteraitch 30 November | 10:30

No, it wasn't George. A colleague of mine saw his concert in Stockholm though, & said he put on a very good show.

That was in the restroom. The concert, that's a whole other story...

posted by jonmc 30 November | 10:44

Next time you could just ask the flight attendents on the way out the door. They usually know if anyone of note is on the flight.

posted by cmonkey 30 November | 11:25

Oh geez. The MTV European Video Music Awards were held Nov. 2 in Copenhagen, I just remembered. So the band could have been anybody. So going on the possible Scottish accent you heard:

Mogwai? Five guys, Scottish, one is shortish with reddish hair.
Arab Strap? Scottish, redheaded guy.
Travis? Scottish, a redheaded guy.
Idlewild? The lead singer (the guy in front) sometimes has red hair.

posted by iconomy 30 November | 11:36

iconomy, girl detective, to the rescue!
she can suss with minor fuss
and emerge unruffled with hair unmussed

posted by ethylene 30 November | 11:42

Hey sciurus - you a WH fan? OMG, I love that group - I've been into them since just before the Mondo Akimbo A Go-Go ep came out. I've got a gorgeous copy of Earth Vs. on vinyl stashed away that's autographed by Ginger, CJ, Danny, Jon, Ritch and Stidi. I've got loads of WH stuff (including all of the singles) as well as, I think, all Ginger's solo stuff, stuff by The Jellies and what little Danny did with The Chasers and the first (and only?) Yo-Yos album.

So, er, yeah: The Wildhearts - the finest rock group in the UK that you've almost certainly never heard of.

posted by TheDonF 30 November | 12:51

No, sorry to say I'm not a Wildhearts fan; cursory googling led me to them.

posted by sciurus 30 November | 13:04

iconomy—ahh yes, they were quite likely awards-show attendees. Out of those, the Arab Strap chap looks the most like the one I'm picturing, in terms of hair-colour & beardedness, but no... I guess I misheard with the Scottish thing.

posted by misteraitch 30 November | 13:14

Have Arab Strap not just split? There was an announcement and the obligatory best of album. They were okay, but I'm glad they've split as Malcolm Middleton's solo stuff is incredible.

posted by TheDonF 30 November | 13:23

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