The Australian garage rockers triumph in London!
Ah, excellent, it wasn’t just us, then. Here at Punktuation, we like to believe we don’t care what anyone else thinks, but it is nice to back a winning horse, and clearly there are plenty of other folks out there who enjoyed Australian quartet Mini Skirt’s excellent sophomore album ‘All That We Know’ as much as we did. Tonight, the Shacklewell Arms is sold out, and quite rightly so.
Openers Industry Standard are self described as ‘Wonky Tonk Swamp Pop’, and hey, why not? They certainly refuse to fit in any tidy little musical box; there are some seriously arresting grooves, combined with scratchy punk rock guitar riffs, and topped off in fine style by their vocalist, who has stage presence and charisma to burn. We particularly love the song about the puppy, which at times is reminiscent of the Pixies at their most eccentric. Great stuff.
By now, the Shacklewell is packed almost to capacity, and there’s a sense that everyone is seriously ready for Mini Skirt. Indeed, it only takes a couple of songs before the Stooges-esque ‘Been A While’ ignites a pit, which bounces, seethes, writhes and generally goes nuts throughout the rest of the band’s set.
Things are no calmer onstage; vocalist Jacob coming across almost like a shadow boxer, tangling himself in microphone cable as guitarist Cam coaxes serious noise from his instrument on the likes of ‘Mud’ and ‘Smart Enough’. You get the feeling that if bassist Jesse and drummer Jacob weren’t there to keep the others grounded, the whole thing would spill over into alll-out sonic warfare, and that goes a long way to explaining Mini Skirt’s appeal. This is punked-up garage rock as a weapon – i.e. as it should be.
By the time ‘Squeeze Down’ and a cover of The Mekons’ classic ‘Where Were You?’ brings things to a close, Jacob is long since shirtless, and we depart in a smiling, sweaty daze. Mark our words – if Mini Skirt can keep up performances like these, then it surely won’t be long before they leave small venues like these in their wake, so go see them as soon as is humanly possible.
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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