Something a lot more along the DIY path is in store for me tonight as some punk chaos awaits me across in Manchester. The short hop across made, it’s off to Night People, a place around the corner from one of my favourite Mancunian haunts and somewhere that has proven a nice venue on my previous visits for gigs.
Giant Boys take to the stage with a sparse room that gradually fills during their set and I’m a bit unsure quite of what to make of them at first. A vocalist and a guitarist/occasional vocalist playing some noise meets post-punk – think maybe of a more lo-fi Big Black and you’ll get an indication – along with some backing tapes is actually a lot more effective and likeable than it might first seem, though the initial effect is a touch jarring while you adjust to their sound. There’s plenty of punk energy and while they could do with the instruments all being played live on stage to give a proper appreciation of their music, it’s still listenable and not off-putting once you make the mental adjustment to their style.
I find myself a lot more at odds in my head with our main support, Careering, than I feel that I actually should. Quite an art-punk feel, blending something a bit more melody based into their sound and they are certainly tighter musically than our last act, yet something doesn’t quite fit so well for me with them. There is less applause at the end of the set despite there being more people having trickled in through their set and so I’m not certain that the issue is mine alone.
Musically I’m generally a fan of them, a couple of overly clashing parts between melody and the more punk bass apart, but the vocals do not work for me, being too thin for the effect he is trying to achieve, in my opinion. It’s certainly not awful, nor are the vocals, just the combined effect not sitting so well in my head, almost like they are trying to replicate what Idles do but without the roaring vocals that Joe Talbot possesses. It’s also quite possible that the cramped stage with five band members constricts them all more than usual and has affected them a touch – if so, it could well be a shame. I like other acts that do a very similar thing so they SHOULD also work for me, just for whatever reason on this occasion they don’t.
Thumper are another matter entirely though, and where Careering had a quite similar sound, they certainly are not as well polished as our headliners. Combining old school punk ‘n’ roll with a noise approach works very well when creating in this manner, with the almost visceral vocals, while the psych elements combine to create the bastardised noise that are Thumper’s songs. With six members, including two drummers, one bassist and three guitars, they have plenty of members to make a racket and man, do they utilise each to their potential to do this. Plenty of power chords, a warbling wall of sonic assault and a very in your face attitude with the music, even if the personas of the guys themselves feel a lot more laid back than their music. It strikes me around two-thirds of the way through the set that they have a similar approach to the earlier Nirvana stuff, looking at the likes of ‘Aneurysm’ or ‘Negative Creep’ and I realise then why I’ve probably taken so well to their live show.
We get, in their own words, a special treat, as Thumper launch into a cover of Natasha Bedingfield’s ‘These Words’ around halfway through the set, performed in their trademark psych Noise pop style creating something sufficiently different from the original as to appeal well, while ‘Loser’, which follows it, is another particular high point in what is a strong set. We get one guitarist wandering off stage on a couple of occasions and wandering around the room, while we get some pretty pissed off sounding vocals in a softer musical part, with the aforementioned Nirvana feel of the loud/soft and noise punk appeal of some of their tracks almost feeling like it calls to something deeper inside of you.
The crowd around me seem to share my appreciation, clapping loudly between songs with plenty of heads nodding along and while it may not have as wide an appeal as Nirvana, they have more than enough of their own. Our singer even wanders in amongst us for set closer ‘You’re Bringing Me Down’, climbing on the bar and an arcade machine before retaking the stage to have us all crouch down and jump around for the crescendo ending. An enthusiastic and highly enjoyable headline set.
- The tour continues:
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