GIT Awards 2015 — Reviewed

Worth shouting about: Joshua Potts finds a distinct lack of scepticism and a great deal of energy and invention at this year’s Merseyside music award…

Many things stand out from Saturday’s gathering of musical sovereignty, but the most pertinent point was my decision not to take hard drugs before the Get Into This (GIT) Award began. I don’t think I’d have made it out alive if there was more than free beer and champagne in my system. Our host was a bald man in a ringmaster jacket who came out to the Crystal Maze theme tune; his assistants were sprites in floaty jump suits, kicking the night off by trying to touch every hipster beard in attendance. The Kazimier was transformed into an Aztec hot-house, palm trees flanking the top prize: a crystal skull, leading the odds of a redesigned Grammy award 3/1.

From this bright and woozy artistic direction emerged an endearing snapshot of Merseyside music. The nominees played in sets of three or four, with interludes turning ever-more bonkers in the care of improve comedy act Impropriety. Whether we were called to deliver a Fresh Prince sing-off, laughing at a Kevin Smith look-a-like in the audience, or watching Bido Lito!’s Chris Torpey get turned into a priestess of some sort, there was little to dampen the ebullience oozing from the stage. Even the host from last year made a slapdash grab for the mic, drunker than sin. It must be a great job, although if you fuck up there’s a journalistic crowd with keyboards back home, making sure you won’t do it again.

In fact, the whiff of hi-brow scepticism I expected to find wasn’t there. Not in any universe. The GIT Award proved, with maybe its strongest finalists since its conception three years ago, that the joy of invention is one thing worth shouting about. GIT founder Peter Guy admitted as much when it came time for him to thank his partners and peers. He lost his speech, but did a sterling job of summing up the energy of the event in the statesman-like cut of a sharp blazer. In his bespectacled eyes swam the love of a city that keeps punching above its weight, deaf to all claims that it’s down in the gutter.

The gigs either side of him were electric. Nine out of the 12 acts competing for the award were present and played for us like they had nothing to lose. They did, obviously, but the competition was casual, almost as if the fact of them being there was a victory in itself.

Strongest were openers Gulf, out-of-nowhere soul maestro Xam Volo, and the dizzy garage rock of Hooton Tennis Club. We Are Catchers evened the tone with a subtle performance, while Lapsley and eventual winners All We Are sent their regards in video messages. Handing the trophy to the latter seems like the right choice – the band are one of Liverpool’s biggest commercial prospects, a slap in the face to those who grumble about the Mersey scene being too insular.

My lasting impression, however, is the heartfelt tribute paid to Deltasonic boss Alan Wills. Gone but decidedly unforgotten, his eulogy formed the Inspiration Award given by Dave Pichilingi, a close friend, speaking warmly about Alan’s impact on all who touched him. “A true maverick,” we were told, looking to the in-house screen as Alan flickered to life. “The music that breaks out of this city will be from young people that haven’t got a clue.” Agreed, good sir, and how we wish you were still here to help recognise that prediction.

As it is, the people left with the job are doing fine work, and they’re all in it together.

Joshua Potts

Listen to our Playlist: GIT Awards Shortlist 2015

More on the GIT Award here

All images courtesy Keith Ainsworth for Get Into This