For
the second Monday in a row, I’m scooting down the M4 for a CD release show at
Bristol’s Rough Trade Records, but this one promises to be quite different from
last week’s… I was recommended South London
sextet, the curiously named Man/Woman/Chainsaw, by a Spotify algorithm earlier
this year, and I’m pleased to say they pegged me right in this instance! Far
from the crashing metallic aggressiveness that their name implies, this four
girl, two guy bunch offer something more eclectic and beguiling, and much
more melodic, initial listens to their material variously recalling the likes
of Blondie, Alvvays and even my 90’s faves The Heart Throbs in their spooky harmonic
tuneage (hmmm, I have been playing a lot of Heart Throbs stuff on Spotify this
year: I wonder if that was behind the recommendation?), and even oldies
such as Nick Cave, Leonard Cohen and Patti Smith in their more brooding moments.
I did say eclectic, right? Anyhoo, I’d booked for their impending Autumn Thekla
show before tix became as scarce as rocking horse poo, but they then added a release
show for debut album “Cannonball” in Bristol too. So, two for two, then…
This lot had landed firmly in Beef’s wheelhouse as well (he was a Heart Throbs fan of old too…!), so I wandered round to his mums and he drove us down a sun-kissed M4 (the 2026 heatwave Summer furnace still on full blast). Got to our usual Rupert Street landing spot, however, to discover signage suggesting it had gone over to QPark app payment only! “The Tyranny of Apps” (tm. me!) strikes again, as I then took 20 minutes trying to download, validate via my google, my bank and my email (so much for “making parking simple”) and then totally fail to log our session… however we then found a QPark employee outside who said it hadn’t been fully installed so that was a complete waste of time! Well, at least tonight’s parking was free… However, that delay, plus our queueing up in the wrong queue at the gig (in the bar queue, which stretched outside, as opposed to the entry queue, which didn’t!) meant that we got in the already busy – and hot! – back room at 10 past 7 for this sellout gig, straining for a view from our halfway-back spot. Bah!
Anyway, the 6-piece Man/Woman/Chainsaw crowded onto the small stage at the appointed hour, standing line abreast apart from drummer Lola Cherry, and proceeded to play all of the album in chronological order, with one exception… This meant they led in with their most melodic pure “pop” number, the choral harmony barrage of “Only Girl”, the electric violin touches of the excellently named Clio Starwood already to the fore. In fact, the violin was front and centre for much of the set, offering a real point of distinction to the Man/Woman/Chainsaw sound, particularly giving their slower, broodier numbers such as the subsequent “Canyons” and even the more piano-led late night jazz bar smoocher “Lighter” a haunting, eerie air.
As
I mentioned, Man/Woman/Chainsaw are quite the eclectic bunch, the violin and occasional
piano contributing to this, but also material-wise, as they veer from that “Only
Girl” pastoral pop, through growling Cohen/Violent Femmes-esque murder ballad
territory (an early “Goddamn, Lizard Man!”) and Rialto-like 60’s B Movie menace
(“Flick Of The Wrist”) to outright, riff-tastic wig-out grunge (“The Thing”). Also
frequently swapping vocal chores between front persons Vera Leppanen and Billy
Ward, this gives the band and tonight’s set a varied and oft-schizophrenic air,
which is nonetheless snatched from the precipice of deliberate art-wank pretentiousness
by the strength of the songwriting, a neat trick for such a young band. And as
for that “exception”… A word of thanks from an otherwise taciturn band preceded
easily their best number (and a shoe-in for my “Best Of 2026” compo CD), the upbeat
synth pitter patter and overlaid dual line choral harmonics of “Nosedive”, the coruscating
and hypnotic outro build also recalling Stereolab, and rounding off an
inventive and intriguing, if occasionally uncomfortably hot 45 minutes set.
By now, Beef and I were holding a watching brief at the back, so were in a decent spot for the signing sesh with the band in the store afterwards. A quick chat with a friendly bunch, keyboardist Emmie-Mae Avery particularly taken with my red suede creepers and my justification for wearing them – life’s too short to wear crap shoes, indeed! Back home therefore about 9.30 to again catch up on my Monday night TV quiz binge before hitting the hay. So yup, what a difference a week makes… much louder, much busier, yet still a fun evening out, this time with a highly inventive and promising new band in Man/Woman/Chainsaw. The “Dirty Boat” will be rocking for their November gig, no messin’…
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