A great triple-threat bill from Voodoo Radio, The Dollheads and Quick Romance!
Ladies and gentlemen, our post-Rebellion Festival slump is officially over. Well, put it this way: with a line-up of this quality, how could we not haul arse to central London this evening? On the whole, punk rock remains something of a boys’ club; so it’s heartening that (a) all three of the bands are fronted by women, and (b) that there’s a good turnout on this humid Saturday evening.
We said it before when Quick Romance played a great set with Deaf Devils recently, but seriously, it’s amazing how much the Bath quartet have grown in confidence. Previous single ‘Brian Jones’s Hair’ is catchy as hell, with its girl-group style interlude, and the fact that they play it only two songs into their set speaks volumes as to their belief in their excellent newer material.
Matilda remains a gloriously mercurial frontwoman, gutiarist Haydn continues to coax merry hell from his instrument, and the high-octane punk rock thrills just keep on coming. No wonder Damaged Goods have snapped them up; there’s a sense that some people are just born to do this, and Quick Romance are a case in point. Can’t wait for their debut album.
Is it possible to be absolutely livid whilst also having the time of your life? The Dollheads suggest as much. Singer/guitarist Angela may unleash the vocal vitriol (as well as giving her Telecaster serious punishment), but her bassist sister Samantha is clearly having a blast as she channels Rancid bass virtuoso Matt Freeman on her low-slung instrument. Oh, and how could we not mention their brother, drummer Austin, who gleefully smashes the shit out of his kit, breaking a couple of sticks along the way?
The Las Vegas trio go straight for the jugular on the likes of ‘See You In Hell’ and previous single ‘Teenage Runaway’, and an utterly feral cover of the Circle Jerks’ ‘Wild In The Streets’ is the icing on a melodic but furious punk rock cake. The couple of new songs bode well for their future; surely it can’t be long before they leave venues of this size behind.
“Dad tells people to follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Tinder!” So declares Voodoo Radio vocalist/drummer Paige with an eye roll, and it’s not the first or last time the Cumbrian daughter/father duo make us burst out laughing. They clearly love to wind each other up, but they clearly also share some kind of musical telepathy; how else could they suddenly stop in the middle of ‘Ice Cream Man’ to regale us with the tale of “the dry robe wankers Facebook group”?
Not that such giggle-worthy patter would count for much if Voodoo Radio didn’t have the songs to back it up, but my goodness, their set resembles nothing less than an oughta-be greatest hits, with the power pop/punk stylings of ‘Pretty Boy’ and ‘Watching The TV’ sounding even more addictive and potent than on record. When not singing, Paige is to be found jumping around joyfully as she attacks her stand-up kit; a perfect foil to Tony’s mysterious guitar wizard persona. By the time they close with ‘Turn Out The Light’, we’re all converted to their cause, and can’t help but hope that much-deserved greater things await them.
Cheers to Sam and Tony from UXB Music Promotion and Sounds Of The Suburbs for having us along for the ride, and more importantly, for putting such a strong bill together! Be sure to follow them via the links.
All Photos: ALEX GOOSE
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I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
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