culture-counter

[culture-counter]

Girl Band & Goat Girl @ Brudenell Social Club, Leeds 24/01/2017 We arrive just in time to grab ourselves a pint and catch the hotly anticipated support band from South London, Goat Girl. These four disgustingly young girls are playing good tunes & not giving a single damn. It's refreshing to see an all-girl line-up in casual clothes (footy shirts, vest tops, combat trousers and trackies: very 90s) and little makeup. Instead they focus on their craft, giving us a polished performance of recent underground hits like Scum, released on Rough Trade last year. We especially love the electric blue-haired drummer, who keeps it tight while knocking back the Buckie and sticking one leg in the air. These girls are already making a name for themselves and will surely go far. Later, Girl Band frontman Dara Kiely ambles up to the mic and laconically slurs introductions, like a young, blond Dylan Moran. From that first moment you can tell he's going to be a compelling performer. He goes on to endear himself to locals by naming every Leeds United footballer he can remember. The bass line of opening song Paul has the crowd hypnotised: compulsively moving to its urgent, insistent and paranoid rhythm. As I watch the mosh pit pogo-ing to the techno style beat and bizarre guitar sounds, I wonder if Girl Band owe their heritage more to punk, The Rapture or The Klaxons. It's hard to say. They play with formats, time signatures, and lengths of songs. Some songs are verging on 7 minutes; others, like 'Cha Cha Cha', are over in a matter of seconds. Their pedals are virtually unidentifiable by ear alone. I'm amazed at the bizarre sounds they achieve without a synth in sight. At times the drummer is seemingly able to drum at about 240bpm without moving his upper body, like some sort of fucked up metronome. That's not to say that the performance is perfect; in fact they screw up a couple of songs. They get away with it by laughing off their mistakes and quickly moving on. Wild-eyed, by turns Kiely howls and drones his lyrics, never standing still. He yells about looking crap with no top on, Sudocreme and going to the shop. A world we all recognise. Darker moments, more in keeping with the tense vibe of the music, emerge as he screams, "Why they hide their bodies under my garage" repeatedly in the song of the same name. Despite the complexity of their material, Girl Band are a real party band with hypnotic beats. I'd love to see them again... but next time way more wasted.