By DJ Astrocreep
A brief jaunt with a few canned cocktails across to Manchester sees me take in mclusky with support from KLÄMP in Manchester’s Gorilla venue. Having previously seen Hot Snakes and Thurston Moore in the same venue, I’m all too aware of just how good distorted music can sound in the venue. A short wait in the queue and we’re in in time for the opening act.
KLÄMP feature a lot of repetition, relying on building up a sonic wall of attack to wear down your senses. It’s an approach that works very well. The room busies up nicely during their set and the five piece do an excellent job of getting heads and bodies rhythmically moving away to the beat.
While one song has drums that almost perfectly match ‘Demon Cleaner’ by Kyuss (certainly not a bad thing to sound like!), their general approach of almost minimalism into layered noise and back is very well textured, a nice expansion on the loud/soft expression of early R.E.M., The Pixies and the like.
It’s an excellent introduction to the band, who do themselves proud with a tight set.
When a band reforms, it often isn’t the best of times any more, something that’s in the forefront of my mind as mclusky take to the stage. Considering they start with ‘lightsabre cocksucking blues’, nailing it while the crowd goes absolutely mental in front of them. From moshpits to pogoing, it seems that almost everyone at the venue is absolutely up for it and while there is a far more punk edge from mclusky. While there is a level of departure from the noise of the the support, the noise punk end of mclusky’s music actually fits a lot better live alongside the support than I’d maybe thought during the support act’s set.
The sound, as always in Gorilla, is immense and the acoustics bring even the harsher end of the set out perfectly. With a slightly false start to one song as the bassist is asked to slow down by the guitarist and another where they claim to have rehearsed a song twice before playing it live for the first time, the self deprecating humour aligns perfectly with the general overwhelmingly positive and friendly atmosphere across the entire evening. Even when the bassist would rather die here, than on the other side (as he talks about a burst appendix and how, on the other side, it was Liverpool).
With the set starting with ‘lightsabre cocksucking blues’, I did spend a decent amount of time looking around the packed room seeing how any more Spotify-influenced fans of the band would react. I’m pleasantly surprised by how much of the catalogue – both old and new – is actually known. ‘unpopular parts of a pig’, ‘autofocus on the prime directive’ (both from their just released “comeback album, ‘the world is still here and so are we‘) and ‘alan is a cowboy killer’ also stand out for me as personal highlights of the evening, as the crowd participation – be that singing, bouncing or moshing along – is so emphatic during those tracks. The mix of old and new songs is just perfect, giving the pogoers time to catch their breath every few songs, letting them regain a little strength in their legs before hitting them hard again.
A superb night of raw music.
- The tour finishes at SWX in Bristol tomorrow (Saturday 31 May).