PETROL GIRLS, SHOOTING DAGGERS & FEMME DÉ
A night of high-energy, cathartic music that provided a safe space for everyone regardless of gender, sexuality or race and what more can one want, really?
Tonight is a night for the girls, for the women, the queers, non-binary and trans, an evening of confrontational music and politics but there was a warm welcome for all, including this straight, cis male.
Norwich’s own FEMME DÉ have been gigging since June so they are pretty new on the scene and this is the first chance I get to check them out. The four piece ploughs a similar path to local favourites Other Half and Sleemo - which is a huge compliment from me - with a sound that takes in shouted vocals (de rigeur tonight) with roiling hardcore, rollicking post-hardcore, old school punk and a touch of 90’s alt.rock. An assured performance from a band that I will definitely see again.
SHOOTING DAGGERS are a positive United Nations of a band, being based in London with Sal from France on vox and guitar, Bea from Italy on bass and vox and Spanish drummer Raquel. Given the bloody mess this country is in, I have to ask why they - or anyone - would want to live here but I am bloody glad they do. This set is a revelation. This is hardcore/grindcore that would have been right at home on Peaceville Records circa 1987 before adding D-best and massive doom riffs to the mix. I also heard a dash of very early, Babyteeth era, Therapy? in the sound but that may just be me. Whatever, whilst I’d be lying if I said that Shooting Daggers do anything particularly new or ground-breaking, theirs is a sound a love but don’t hear anywhere near often enough.
And so to tonight’s headliners, PETROL GIRLS. Given what has come before, it will be no surprise to anyone that it is loud, hard and heavy. It is more straight-ahead punk-rocking-riot-grrl than either of tonight’s other two bands. There’s some cracking riffing, pounding drumming and deft bass work, inducing some full on skanking in an audience who greet each song with gusto. Yet it sometimes seems that the message is a far higher priority - to both band and audience - than the music. But then it is an important, perhaps life saving, message, as brought home to me by the reaction to the impassioned speech from vocalist Ren Aldridge before You Don’t Own Us. This sees people hugging and even openly weeping. Anyway, that is not to say that the music is in any way bad or that there is no fun to be had. Survivor, Preachers and Touch Me Again are monsters and Aldridge is an attention-grabbing ball of energy on stage.
All in all, an evening with some great music and some very important messaging.
