If you imagine a really camp version of the social club that
plays host to Does It Offend You, Yeah?’s amazing 'The Monkeys Are Coming' video, then you’ve
got a pretty good picture of the Moth club. The ceiling is laced with gold
glitter, the word MOTH is written in secondary school style cut-out cardboard
at the back of the stage and there is the kind of sticky wooden dancefloor no
self-respecting wedding reception would do without. In short, it’s the perfect
venue in which Yuck launch their new album, ‘Stranger Things’.
Two support acts play to the slowly building crowd. First up
is the fantastically named Shark Dentist, who open with one of the least accessible
songs I’ve ever seen at a concert (and I’ve seen Bo Ningen) before cruising
through a selection of thrillingly wonky slacker-punk anthems. Theirs was a
compelling set, which had me whipping out my phone and hitting ‘like’ on their
Facebook page (what times we live in!) so I can keep track of what these
upstarts get up to.
The second act up are the loud and proud Puppy. I guess the
name is some kind of intentional juxtaposition as I wouldn’t describe their sound as ‘cute’.
What they do deliver is a fine platter of tasty riffs and epic songs pitching
somewhere between Deftones, REM, Green Day and even Iron Maiden in some of the
unabashedly placed pinched harmonics and harmonised guitars solos.
Finally, scuzz-indie legends Yuck take to the stage and Max
Bloom strums the fuzzy opening chords to ‘Stranger Things’ opener ‘Hold Me
Closer’. From here, Bloom, bassist Mariko Doi and guitarist Ed Hayes continue
an aural assault with their combined axe-work and vocals, backed by pumping
drums. Signature tune ‘Get Away’ gets an early airing, inspiring the first mass
sing-along of the night, as well one of the most awkward stage invasions I’ve
ever seen, leaving the band totally bemused.
Further set highlights include recent single ‘Hearts in
Motion’ replete with infectious hooks, and the monolithic ‘The Wall’ taken from
their self-titled debut album. The band close their main-set just as the crowd
is reaching its raucous peak, causing the oft times routine chants for an
encore to feel genuinely desperate. And the band don’t disappoint as they
return to perform two more tracks. The first a mellower cut from their most
recent album, the second, and final track of the evening, the invigorating
poptastic barnstormer ‘Georgia’.
Bloom had earlier revealed he lives just 5 minutes from the
venue, and I don’t have time to find out whether his offer to the crowd of ‘after
party at my place?’ was genuine or not as I have to dash to catch the last
train home (which I missed... Worth it.). However as we burst out of the venue
we see the frontman chilling outside with his parents, which seems apt considering the fun all-ages
brand of uncool the venue radiates. The entire night is pleasantly free of any
pretension in any of the acts, or indeed the beer soaked audience. There’s some
solace in that as I tackle basically every form of public transport to get home
(and also in the fact that my mate had a worse time of it, sorry Cameron).