Review: Piss up in a Brewery, Black Iris Brewery

 

Last year I’m Not From London and the Black Iris Brewery got together to hold a series of live gigs in the brewery itself that they christened, “Piss Up In A Brewery”. Now, as the weather starts getting a little bit warmer, the events return with four bands playing live music in front of the mash tun.

After missing the first band, Isaac, due to a public transport miscalculation, I arrived just in time for Chambers. Describing their music as “sister doom”, this two-piece from Hull and Leeds play a dark, heavy grunge. At their mellowest, they sound a little like Placebo but they are far more interesting, veering from the nihilistic, “I’ll kill myself tonight” to the paranoid, “too late, they’re in the house.” And they don’t half make a lot of noise for just two people.

 

Next up are Unqualified Nurse Band, three guys from just down the A52 in Derby. This is heavy rock ‘n’ roll, which has a slight Germanic edge (and that’s not just because the band throw around the odd “danke schön” after some songs) Unlike a lot of bands that fall into that category, they have a real sense of melody in their music. For example, their penultimate song reminded me of The Las, but like a really heavy version of The Las.

Headlining the first Piss Up In A Brewery of 2017 are Avalanche Party, featuring a drummer who looks like Tony Law, a lead singer who spends the gig eye-fucking the audience and a keyboardist resplendent in a mesh vest and a leather jacket, reminiscent of Ryan Gosling in the pool party scene in La La Land. Musically, they have an exciting punky, psychedelic sound. The intro to Revolution sounds like Queens of the Stone Age, while they also have a slower song that cribs the “one for the money, two for the show…” lyrics from Blue Suede Shoes.

For a band that present themselves as a feral garage band, some of the songs are too long – one featuring the front man taking two walks into the audience with his guitar. It almost felt as if the band had forgotten how the song was supposed to end. Much better is Let’s Get Together, which will fill many dance floors in indie discos across the land, while Porcelain sounds like it will be one of those album tracks that “real” fans always cite as their favourite ahead of the singles. Final song, Solid Gold is the best track, the most focused song on offer, with a sound like early Kasabian.

Keep your eyes peeled on the I’m Not From London Facebook page to see when the next Piss Up In A Brewery will be: https://www.facebook.com/ImNotFromLondonEvents/

By Gav Squires

@GavSquires