Another jaunt over to the Salty Dog and its feeling really familiar now. Gigs keep pulsing out from there regularly and the lineups and styles of music are varied. As an aside it now has a Record shop (Doghouse Records) upstairs which gives an early gig arriver (me) plenty of chance to relax and browse.
Little Wars live in Foo Fighters land. There’s a heavy grunge sound emanating from the stage during their set. Tight with some manic drums, powerful bass and rather exceptional guitar playing they blast through their tracks to an inquisitive and fairly large crowd. They reward listening with a varied palette, whilst still metallic and big grunge sounds dominate they sometimes hit proggy grooves and occasional hints of the likes of Rush and then suddenly they blast Monster Magnet vibes. Heavy, interesting and diverse.
The Complaint That Creeps are an evolution from Thee Windom Earles and are based in a similar eery surf sounding 60s Garage and Psych sound. The twin guitar, bass and drum machine lineup thrash out some dark 60s sounds washed over with a host of noise generator sounds and spooky theremin like vibes from the keys. Chilling, dark and yet lots of fun and eminently danceable, as demonstrated by large chunks of the audience waving arms around and doing just that. The Complaint deliver and stand there with bright shirts, a cool nonchalance and killer sound knowing they’ve got it.
The next band up, The Dry Retch have an awful lot of people wearing their distinctive T-Shirts in the audience. Chatting reveals that folk have come from Birmingham and Leicester to catch them. After some stellar appearances at Nice and Sleazy and Conjuring Festivals and a set of supports for The New Christs the band appear to be gaining a lot of traction. And then they are off. A sonic assault team, loud, fast, a punk sound (in the Stooges zone) with embedded psychedelic guitars.
They are a pleasure to watch too, bright, never still and with a manic guitarist who could win rock gurning competitions for sure. Their ever caustic vocalist delivers familiar tales of being an Australian band on a 25 year tour of the UK (he is Australian), throws out some casual insults that cause laughter not offence (most not repeatable) and then they blast away until past closing time. After a voluble audience request for ‘one more song’ the Salty Dog engineer gives them the go ahead and they cement whats been a rather good gig with once last massive chunk of noise.
WORDS AND PHOTO CREDIT – RICHIE YATES
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