By Monk

Having spent the previous evening fulfilling the final of my commitments to the annual showcase of somewhat heavier local talent that is the Bloodstock Metal 2 The Masses competition, it was time to step outside of my comfort zone and take up a long-standing invitation to experience a totally different aspect of my home city’s musical sound, in the shape of an evening of shoegazing at a venue which has quickly established its reputation as one of the finest and most professionally run in town. “You’ll be bored stupid,” predicted Her Majesty The Dark Queen earlier in the day… well, there was only one way to find out if she would be right, wasn’t there?

Header for Virgins album launch show 27 April 2024

First up for this evening of potentially ear-opening aural experiences are Gush, whose nascent neo-garage punk comes across like early Go-Gos or Hole fronted by Stevie Nicks, especially given their singer’s contrastingly demure but defiant presence. As their set progresses it moves more toward dense, emotionally-threaded indie-pop, which I have to say is extremely well delivered, with tight musicianship behind Chelsea’s distinctive, grunge-inflected vocals. As the singer drops her guitar for the final, heaviest song, she defiantly screams “just show me!” Well, she certainly showed me a different side of the Belfast music scene, that’s for sure…

Next up on what turns out to be a surprisingly eclectic bill, Dubliners (?) Fulvetta bring a dark, spacey, psychedelic twist to the grunge mien, in a sort of Echo And The Bunnymen meets Hawkwind vibe, with the almost inevitable elements of Nirvana and, especially, Stone Temple Pilots injected into the mix. One thing that impresses me is when the guitarist suffers a massive technical wankout just after the start of their second song, but the rest of band solider on regardless, so more power to their collective elbows for battling through with such determination. One thing that did not impress me, on the other hand, was the table of three wankers sat directly in front of me, staring at Facebook reels and TikTok videos while taking turns to sip on a singular pint of the bar’s otherwise rather excellent IPA… but, hey some people go to gigs just to stroke their “I was there” egos… Fulvetta’s set is heavier in its second half, bringing a more aggressive edge to their overall sound, which makes the overall experience somewhat more pleasing from my perspective.

The main support comes from Slow Healer, who get off to a somewhat soporific start before moving into a more sub-Killers style alt-rock groove, which in turn is melded into a Britpop indie vibe punctuated with modern shoegaze sensibilities, sort of like The Lemonheads jamming with Pulp, minus the poppy hooks of the latter. Obviously, they place heavy emphasis on promoting their new EP, ‘The Elegy‘, but to be brutally honest the overall effect is not my cup of tea and most of the set largely passes me by in a blur (sic) of disinterest on my part. Nevertheless, they go down well with the majority of the crowd (including the three social media addicts who suddenly seem less interested in their otherwise absorbent screens).

And so to our headliners, about whom I had completely forgotten the fact that their manager, and tonight’s promoter, is also the guitarist, perhaps making some of the comments I made to him about the mix on their debut album ever so slightly misjudged… Ah well, c’est la vie, onward and upward, once more into the breach and all that auld shite…

What Virgins deliver live is a dense, bass-driven sound combined with winding riffs and ethereal vocals which evoke a sort of proto-psyche sound that in turn suggests a Cocteau Twins for the post-gothic punk generation. With their spiky attitude, sense of melody and the vocals much higher in the live mix than on the aforementioned album one, they play said release in its proper running order, interrupted only at the halfway point by Michael thanking the world and its mother for their support to date. And, appropriately, the set ends with a new track already written for the second album…

So, did I get my ears opened to new aural experiences? Most certainly. Was I, as DQ so eloquently predicted, “bored stupid”? In places, yes indeed. But, hey even at pushing 60 years of age, life is all about tasting the menu in front of you and finding out what is appetizing and satisfying, and what is not… and at least I didn’t leave with a dose of aural indigestion, so that’s a plus!

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