Pony Up presents Shiners
For the third night in a row, I am out at a gig in a wet and rainy Norwich. Despite the weather, I have made a late call to attend a Pony Up night at the Arts Centre.
Opening proceedings, Dlore sings with a rich, soulful voice and delivers the occassional rapid-fire rap over some nifty acoustic guitar work. Whilst the songs are decent and that voice is strong, I’d like to hear Dlore with a rhythm section. As it is,Hieroglyphs and a substantially reworked cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s stone-cold classic Bad Moon Rising are the highlights of what is a very well received set.
After that, Kulk are a definite shock to the system. Thom (guitar/vox) and Jade Ashleigh (drums) kick off with a burst of Mary Chain feedback and My Bloody Valentine tremolo abuse before the brief respite of a gentler, more melodic interlude is followed by a messy but invigorating squall that veers from no wave artnoise to Butthole Surfers-gone-grindcore. The band admit to being influenced by Melvins and White Stripes but I am also getting Mudhoney, early Sonic Youth and something of the primal rage of the likes of Rudimentary Peni and Flux of Pink Indians. Kulk won’t be for everyone but there’s something enthralling in this performance.
In true Pony Up style, things take another direction for London-based four piece Shiners and their bouncy, energetic Britpop-meets-new wave thang. Generation Y is a proper belter of a song, the band clearly enjoy playing together and put on a bit of a show, complete with leaps and scissor-jumps. My Outline colleague David A described it as Hard-Fi trying to be early Blur and, whilst I dunno much Hard-Fi, I get what David mean. Shiners don't do anything new but they are very good at what they do. If I have a complaint, it is that a half-hour set - however good - is on the mean side for a headline slot but the last time I made that complaint was about Royal Blood and look where they are now…
All in all, a good night out well-worth braving the elements for.
