Alumni
of my heady post-redundancy rush of new band discoveries of 2016, and now
regulars on any Dance Card of mine, Pity Me's hooligan bunch of self-confessed
gender warrior punx Martha announced a tour in support of new album "Love
Keeps Kicking", so I booked for the Bristol Exchange date promptly before
it sold out! Said new album is another little firecracker of energetic
guitar-propelled tuneage, the flippant 3-pronged vocal attack never straying
far from the usual Martha subject matter of the awkwardness of relationships in
the 2000s, so this gig promised to be a little corker as well.
I was joined by Martha addicts Andy and Stuart, plus Andy's mate Mandie, heading off early to secure decent parking, but parking up easily on our new Exchange spot after a swift drive down. Before doors too, so had a drink in the pub next door (well, they did... nowt for the designated driver, thanks!) before hitting the venue about 7.45. A quick squint in Specialist Subject Records, a small shop above the venue, before popping in for openers Nervus Rex. Clearly fans of dinosaurs judging by their matching masks, but not of rehearsals, if their "songs" and "performance" (and I use both words in their loosest sense) were anything to go by. Folks, I get the home-made DIY vibe, I do, but playing as if you'd not only just been introduced to each other 5 minutes before going onstage, but only just picked up your instruments for the first time ever (!) at that time as well isn't "cute" or "charming", it's frankly an insult to your audience. Luckily, I wasn't one of them for long, bailing out to the bar after suffering a couple of their horribly amateurish 5th form dirge-like numbers.
Back in for The Woahnows, though; this 3-piece had intrigued last time out at this venue with some frantic MC4/ Senseless Things strumalong pop, so I was expecting more of the same... initially this was the case, with opener "World Explodes" a brisk, earnest emo-core opener in a Modern Baseball style, but it was "No One Else", next up, that was the real surprise. Slower, tougher and punchier, this was a big robust powerpop tune with a soaring chorus reminiscent of The Posies or Redd Kross, and totally hooked me and reeled me in. The subsequent set was very varied but all fine quality; a couple of other chunky powerpop numbers (the harmonic "Hippy Shit" recalling the excellent "I'd Rather Be" by Myracle Brah), some light-touch slow moments to break up buoyant indie jangle, and a final "angry pop punk song" in "Cold", which also impressed last time out. Between numbers, long-haired and slightly androgynous vocalist Tim was an engaging presence, throwing the headliners some back-handed compliments ("thanks to Martha for bringing so many people to see them that they have to see us!" and "[Martha] are lovely; there's 4 of them and there's at least 3 lovely people!") before admitting, "they've got so many bangers in their set." A fair few in this short, snappy and increasingly impressive Woahnows set now too!
Grabbed a list from Tim and promised to grab a copy of their debut CD afterwards, then Stu and I did a loo-break relay (well, that's a necessity in a sold-out venue with no proper "gents", just a urinal-free "gender-neutral" toilet... hmm...) to keep our front row spots for Martha. After a fiddly soundcheck, they took the stage at 10, busting into newie "Wrestlemania VIII" with vim and vigour, guitarist Daniel leading the charge with his high-pitched, yearning vocal style. As before, lead vocal-swapping was a feature of the set, other guitarist Jonathan taking a more nuanced though no less passionate lead for the singalong "Chekhov's Hangnail", and diminutive bassist Naomi lending her aitch-shredding, "t"-dropping Minnie Mouse on helium style for "Supermarket Song", a sterling effort in spite of her clearly suffering with sinus trouble and making increasing recourse to a tissue box, secreted onstage, throughout.
This was again a damn fine set of Martha's brisk, guitar-heavy, C86-influenced Buzzcocks-like lovelorn punk pop, the band this time cutting out much of the between-song banter and politicking in favour of delivering the rock. Newie "Sight For Sore Eyes" followed a couple of onstage band meetings "at the same time!", "Curly And Raquel" was a tight, punchy mid-set highlight, and "Do Nothing" a slower-burn, Pixies-ish grungy workout building to a noisy climax. By comparison, new CD title track "Love Keeps Kicking" felt almost 60's-ish melodic Merseybeat-like pop, but again my fave was "Goldman's Detective Agency", the bouncy and racy descending refrain and 3-part harmonies a feature of this, IMHO Martha's best song. Great stuff!
An hour's set was topped with an encore featuring (very!) oldie "Sycamore" and frantic terrace-chant closer "Christine". I'd been bopping near the front throughout, and reached over past the ubiquitous Jeff (who'd been resting his ulcerated foot, instead using his usual front-row spot to sketch Naomi) to grab a list, getting it signed by the Martha folks before making good on my promise, picking up The Woahnows CD from a merch stand-bound Tim and leaving him some powerpop recommendations for his Spotify playlist. A swift, footy-trivia propelled drive home saw me dropping folks off and hitting home just after midnight, following another splendid Martha gig!.
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