Brudenell Social Club hosted a music marathon which incorporated three support bands before the Californian headliners rounded the night off. The final support act was a group of teenagers from Denmark called GӒY. They are rapidly gathering praise and many people tip them to have a sparkling future.
It was a unique performance by them, to say the least. The vocals were incredibly scratchy, simultaneously lethargic yet aggressive. The lead singers vocal style bore a striking resemblance to the vocals of Sid Vicious doing “My Way”, whilst he had a visual likeness to McLovin from Superbad but with longer hair. The whole performance seemed to be purposely borderline shambolic, everything seemed slightly out of tune.
It was a very relaxed performance, the bass player in particular played in a very casual manner. The drums were very prominent and provided a forceful spine to their tracks. Their set combined moments of angst with shoe gazing riffs and despite the contrived chaos it proved to be a quirky and interesting experience.
The crowd then doubled in size as the stage filled with dry ice and Crocodiles arrived. From the off the backlighting colouring the smoke, combined with the lively bass and wah wah guitar, produced an atmospheric setting. The opening numbers registered several comparisons with me to the varying stages of Primal Scream. The wandering bass lines would not have been out of place on the latest Primal Scream album, the guitar riffs had a hint of their 90’s work. Some of the vocals had a touch of Bobby Gillespie about them, and the bassist even had a slight visual similarity to the legendary front man.
The sheer force created by their instruments alone gave the impression that it was physically pushing you backwards, especially when they went up a few gears five songs in. The frantic guitar intro to “Mirrors” injected a fresh energy to the set and had the audience gripped. They expertly combine fleeting light moments with prolonged moody, expanding, riffs.
The set was laden with tracks from their new album Crimes Of Passion as well as choice cuts from their previous three albums and earlier EP’s. The atmosphere and production value made the venue seem even bigger than it is, and the crowd thoroughly enjoyed themselves. It wasn’t just the crowd who were having fun, the band seemed relaxed and to be having a positive experience on stage. They seemed genuinely appreciative of the crowds responses to each track and rewarded the fans with plenty of effort and energy. Headliners Crocodiles appeared to be a highly polished and accomplished act, especially after the performance of GÄY.
