The Lovely Eggs
It is Hallowe'en and, for once, I actually look relatively discreet on a way to a gig. Well, compared to most of the other people that are out and about. If only they knew that this is my normal (gig) attire...
Self-confessed tropical disco groovers Tibetan Night Terrors take the stage in full skeleton costumes and lay down... well, I can't think of a better description than a tropical disco groove. Think Human League covering Wham!'s Club Tropicana with Dead Or Alive's Pete Burns on vox and you wouldn't be far wrong. There's also a touch of Chic, a smidge of The Blockheads and even a dash of The Tubes. It being Halloween, there’s a ghost in the machine and the bass rig packs up mid-set. Thankfully, that is sorted and TNT are soon grooving again. Being absolutely honest, this is far from my thing musically but they're good at what they do, fun to watch and the songs are decent so I'll definitely be checking them out again, hopefully without those technical gremlins.
OK, I know next to nowt about The Lovely Eggs. I am ashamed to admit that. They have been around for over a decade, a lot of people whose musical tastes I respect rave about them and a bit of pre-gig research suggests Holly Ross (vox and guitar) and David Blackwell drums) represent pretty much everything I like in a band. Well, excepting the lack of a bass-player that is....
And so I have suitably high expectations. This will almost certainly be far from the Eggs at their best. Holly is, in her own words, full of cold and her voice suffers accordingly. And yet the duo match or even exceed those expectations. For the most part, on the likes of People Are Twats, Magic Onion or Dickhead, The Lovely Eggs deliver short, sharp bursts of lo-fi, snotty garage-punk that brings to mind the likes of Shonen Knife, The Ramones or The Vaselines. When they really get going, there are hints of the psychedelia of Pretty Things SF Sorrow.
Highlights include an impromptu bash at Julie Driscoll's Season of the Witch, a brief burst of a Pearl Jam intro and the glorious, glorious cure for stress and anxiety that is Fuck It. Now, being a sufferer of stress and anxiety myself, I honestly think that song should be available on prescription.
Not everyone will get The Lovely Eggs. The music they make is primitive and defiantly underground. Neither Holly nor David are singers, they are vocalists (which, in my world, is a compliment). The songs can be basic with sometimes repetitive, sometimes surreal lyrics. Theirs is clearly not a sound for fans of the X-Factor or polished pop music. And, for me, all of that is in their favour. Roll on the next time they hit Norwich.
