1,231 GREGOR BARNETT, Lande Hekt, Perkie, Bristol Exchange, Sunday 12th June 2022

 

I’ve become quite the fan of The Menzingers over their last few albums, after they filled a Gaslight Anthem-shaped hole in my affections with their similar Springsteen-influenced stories of coming of age in small town America, set to expansive, driving and often deliciously hooky emo/pop-punk tinged US alt rock. Tonight promised something slightly different, however, as co-vocalist Gregor Barnett has only gone and made a “Country” album! Now, normally this would see me scuttling for the hills, particularly after being burned by recent poor offerings (and even worse gigs! Yup, that carcrash gig 1,074) from the afore-mentioned Gaslight Anthem’s Brian Fallon… however Greg’s release, the somewhat ghoulishly titled “Don’t Go Throwing Roses In My Grave”, is definitely more dusty, parched and deliciously bleak alt- as opposed to mawkish Grand Old Opry trad-Country, with some wry, understated tuneage not a million miles from his usual work. Si and Matt were up for the gig as well, so I figured, why not?

 I nearly didn’t bother though; after last night’s late one, I found myself dozing off on the sofa barely half an hour before departure tonight, and giving thought to blowing it off and watching what was shaping up to be an exciting IndyCar race on TV. Rock’n’roll won out though, as ever, and Si and Matt, plus Si’s new lady Kathryn collected me just before 7. Met up with Si’s mates Phil and Ben at the venue, and had some good rock chat before venturing in for opener Perkie, who seemed to be externalising her internal monologue as to what key to play her hushed bedsit ballads in, rather than actually playing them. A couple of stop-starts might be charming, but multiple times before – and during – numbers is simply amateurish, so I got annoyed and went outside. Tour support Lande Hekt was better; frontperson of punky pop act The Muncie Girls, her gauche, often C86-tinged indie acoustica veered between endearingly wistful songs about damaged relationships (e.g. “Impending Dooming” and her best number, closer “8 Days Of Rain”) and quirkier subject matter (the bouncy “Gay Space Cadets” and a song about Jeremy Clarkson!), and the only issues she seemed to have in her performance was an “evil” ring picked up at a car boot sale! I quite enjoyed her set, but after Perkie, I was just kindly disposed to anyone who could finish a song coherently…

 Greg joined us just before 10; armed initally with a chunky acoustic but switching to a full-on electric for later numbers, the black clad desperado opened with the funereal death march of “Oh Lord, What Do You Know”, with imagery evoking the minutae of dusty truckstop America, stray dogs and pennies on railroad tracks and the like, and Greg giving them suitable atmospheric gravitas with his quavery, yearning vocal delivery. After the Decemberists-like harmonica blare of the album’s title track, Greg greeted the keen Bristol Sunday crowd with, “something uniquely English about the sound of a sticky club floor!” before realising The Menzingers’ Autumn tour doesn’t include Bristol, some wag down the front (OK, me…!) countering with, “you’re making us go to London!” By way of compensation, however, we then had a rousing singalong to a splendidly galloping “Anna”, one of my favourite Menzingers’ tracks. OK then!

 

The set concentrated on the solo album material, which in this “live” voice/guitar only environment largely took on a stripped-back, haunting Violent Femmes-esque dark Appalachian backwoods murder ballad quality, with titles to match; in fact when Greg told his parents he’d written a song called “Hurry Me Down To Hades”, they both wondered where they’d gone wrong with him! There were spots of light amongst the gloom, however, with “Driving Through The Night” the most Menzinger-esque of his new numbers, and “Talking To Your Tombstone” a racey upbeat swayalong at odds with its’ subject matter. Plus there were Menzingers numbers to delight the faithful; deep cut “My Friend Chris” was preceded by a story of their first, disastrous Bristol gig back in 2010, and a fine “Midwestern States” elicited another singalong. After scheduled set closer, “Guest In Your House”, Greg called for a couple of requests to fill up to the hour, the crowd voting for “Your Wild Years” (which saw me attempting to sing the hook in the correct accent; “a little Baah-ston in your attitude (!)”) and tonight’s highlight, the splendid finale of “Casey”.

 

I’d nudged forward for this one, so asked Greg for his list which he duly obliged; then a few minutes later I popped back for a brief chat and pic with a softly spoken but absolute gentleman, before we hit the road. So my 3 in 3 now in the books (now I can sleep!), and appetite duly whetted for a full-on Menzingers show at the Roundhouse in November, after a fine acoustic showing tonight from a very talented gent!