A hectic half-term gigging week (3 in 4 nights!) continues with this one, bringing up double figures for the Isle of Wight’s finest, bratty indie and increasingly punkish combo Coach Party, and a welcome return to the Thekla for them, for the first time since a superb October 2023 set (gig 1,296). We’d booked this one back in June last year (!), but since squeezed in an “outstore” show at the Oxford Jericho last Autumn (gig 1,407) to celebrate the release of sophomore album “Caramel”, the band taking that opportunity to play said new album in its’ entirety. Cranking up the volume, speed and attitude a few notches, “Caramel” sees the band in punkish, confrontational and almost riot-grrrl mood, delivering a set of proper filling-rattling choons with a serious potential to punch a hole in the “Dirty Boat” and sink the motherfucker!
Peej and I set off early for this 6.30 doors gig, parking up shortly after doors after a happily incident-free run down, grabbing a spot near the front, house left and next to old gig buddy Alfie! Not long to wait for the openers at 7; a major reason for our early arrival was Coach Party’s decision to add a local band to open each date on this tour, happily selecting kindred spirits for this gig in Bristol’s own Hunny Buzz. I’d spoken about Coach Party with da Buzz after their splendid Deep Sea Diver support slot last November (gig 1,414), their verdict being they’d love to play with them. OK, you got your wish folks, now deliver… buoyant indie pop opener “Mine” was followed by “Car Collision”, a tremendous breathless and hooky slice of punkish effervescence, and the slow-fast momentum-building “Joyride” (preceded by an emotional tribute from vocalist Lydia Read to a recently-passed friend), showing a number of strings to their 90’s-influenced indie bow. The stomping grunge of “Sweet Perfume” saw a cameo from Coach Party drummer Guy on guitar (!), “Love Her” had a very 90’s slacker vibe, and a rapid opening set was capped with an excellent “Hey Mary”, a subtle and classy build to an infectious choral hook. Excellent set from a band rapidly fulfilling potential…
Main support Lizzie Esau and her band were up next; I’d not checked them out beforehand so was coming in cold, and they impressed from the outset. Another female-fronted 90’s referencing grungy indie lot, maybe, but, different to the openers, their general vibe was moodier, with more understated mid-paced material delivering a beguiling mix of melody and malevolence, accentuated by the tiny and striking Lizzie’s yearning and occasionally higher octave and almost operatic tones (esp. during the slo-grunge mid set “Lazy Brain”). Brooding opener “Wait Too Late” was a brooding beast with an environmental message, “Day In The Life” (introduced with, “this is about shit jobs – anyone got one?” – not me, I’m retired from mine!) was a more upbeat clapalong outlier, and closer “Bleak Sublime” was again a slo-burn opening building to a moody, Garbage-esque choral hook, Lizzie admonishing the crowd to sing along. Impressive stuff overall!
A chat with Peej and Alfie down the rapidly-filling front bumped us up to 8.45, Coach Party taking the stage to an “Eve Of Destruction” (no, not that one…) synth track intro, and straight into the harsh, heavy opener “Do It For Love”, vocalist Jess Eastwood’s off-kilter, discordant and dismissive choral vocals already a feature. Oldie “Can’t Talk, Won’t”, next up, was brilliant, this Sleeper-esque oldie given more oomph and bite tonight with heavier guitars (courtesy of a mysterious 5th member!) and a thrashy extended outro, before an early outlier of the twinklingly dreamy “Be That Girl” was preceded by Jess welcoming the audience before deadpanning, “there’s always a bigger crowd [here] for the disco afterwards!”
“BTG”
proved a proper outlier for the set, as tonight Coach Party brought the noise,
cranking up volume, pace and scarily wide-eyed conviction with the likes of a
rampaging, aggressive “Nurse Depression”, the acerbic diss track “All I Wanna
Do Is Hate” and a frankly awesome squalling double noise-fest of “Parasite” and
“Disco Dream”, Jess often bending double on the floor to deliver her screamed
vocals in the manner of Seafood’s David Line. In fact, much of tonight’s
performance recalled our millennial “live” faves da’ food; the savage punk rock
electric guitars, the kinetic dynamism, that thrilling sense of tumbling chaos
and catharsis… “What’s the Point In Life” was comparatively sedate and subdued,
before the ante was upped again with “FLAG” and finally “Girls”, Jess inviting
the girls from the crowd to join the band onstage before abandoning it herself
to deliver her primal scream vocals from the pit, before joining band, girls
and the “Caramel” front cover chap onstage for the finale of this full-on punk
rock set. Quick chats with the besieged bands at the merch before an easy drive
home, back for 11 after a redemptive experience. After a splendid but
problematic night out last time, I was looking for an easier gig tonight, and
this one delivered threefold!
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