Opening the night which soars off to the psychedelic side of things are Northwich’s finest Gas Kunst. The quirky Garage Rockers are still bouncing from their rather ace new album Charm Offensive and despite a stand in bassist (who does admirably) they bang out charmingly offensive track after track.
They blend heavy groove ridden songs with more quirky melodic ones. There’s 60s Motown one second then 90s NSeattle grunge all held together by some acutely creative musicianship. Of particular note – and spite some technical difficulties are the lead guitar playing that covers everything from funky Led Zeppelin to Wah Pedal driven Psych then turning on a sixpence to hit up melodic yet frantic lead breaks and, I could keep up comparisons but this is a player who can seriously play and has a real ear for melody.
Pyncher are deep and doomy, they sound at first like a precursor to The Wytches but after a few tracks noticeable other influences creep in. The vocals have one minute an Ian Curtis like feel to them with a dystopian deep monotone delivery and then burst into a more technicolour straight forward rock style. The insistent bass and breaking glass funky come metallic riff heavy sounding guitar work together and keep the momentum going. We visit everything from Sabbath to a stripped down Frankie and the Witch Fingers.
Then The Wytches take the stage and its a roaring wild journey they take us on. With drums that Kyuss would have been proud of and an ability to keep the more drone psych outs fresh by rolling out melody after melody on top of the My Bloody Valentine levels of noise. This is desert rock meets doom meets psych meets… There’s a lot in there to take in but the powerhouse rhythms keep it all angrily driven and precise. In some ways this is a perfect band, they sneak in so many genre references that everything from a Metal to Indie audience would find something to latch on to.
Its all delivered with a sense of cohesion that somehow manages to surf on the edge of dangerously breaking up and keeps you listening intently. Five albums in and showing no let up in creativity and live performances that justify it all, The Wytches should already be monstrously big.
WORDS AND PHOTOS RICHIE YATES
FOLLOW THE WYTCHES ON WEB / FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM
FOLLOW PYNCHER ON FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM
FOLLOW GAS KUNST ON FACEBOOK / LINKTREE / INSTAGRAM
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