LIVE (Photos): Grace Petrie – Islington Assembly Hall, 14.03.24

Having last seen Grace Petrie live at local venue Stanley Arts back in 2021, and spoken to her earlier that year, it was great to get the opportunity to see her again – this time with a full live band at Islington Assembly Hall, and oozing even more understated, yet strident, empowering charm than ever before. A truly wonderful and unifying evening, celebrating the release of her new album, Build Something Better (and in anticipation of its exciting top 30 chart position the following day), it was a real pleasure to experience her poignant, politically-charged anthems amongst a filled venue of like-minded individuals. With her lilting folk-strewn musicality elevated and energised with the addition of Robin Gatt on lead guitar, Francesca Knowles on drums, Jasmine Kennedy on bass and Amy Thatcher on accordion, as well as her constant comrade Ben Moss on fiddle, it felt like a particularly special evening; whilst not holding back with addressing issues of urgency with a fierce spirit, Petrie was able to create an atmosphere of joyous warmth and solidarity. Resonant, necessary messages delivered with an infectious energy, inciting us to unite and fight against the forces that seek to oppress us. 

As well as being lucky enough to immerse ourselves in Grace’s live set, we were able to have a quick chat about the new album and tour, see our photos from the night, and snippets from the interview below.

“Build Something Better is probably my most political record for a long while. It was inspired by the general sense of dissatisfaction in modern day Britain, especially the nationalistic undertones that the government are utilising to try and distract from the many ways that people are increasingly unhappy and dissatisfied with living standards here. And that just kind of inspired a lot of angry, political songs.”

“Writing the album, I was very inspired by different folk-rock albums, like Bruce Springsteen’s Wrecking Ball, The Decemberists, and an Australian band called The Maes that I’ve been listening to a lot recently.”

“I’ve been having an amazing time touring it, this is my first time playing with this line-up, and it’s just been absolutely amazing. I couldn’t ask for a better band to lift these songs to an amazing new live level that I’ve never been able to access before. I’ve just been having a really great time!”

GIHE alumni Gabi Garbutt also delivered a really beautiful set as support, before Molly Naylor treated us to her witty and relatable poetry.

Build Something Better, the new album from Grace Petrie, is out now via The Robot Needs Home Collective. And Grace will be heading out to Australia this week for a couple of live dates, before heading back there in May for the Guilty Feminist tour. More info here.

Photo Credit: Paul Dawes / @GRNDglass

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LIVE: SPIDER – Camden Assembly, London (20.03.24)

The last time we saw alt-pop polymath play SPIDER live, she was dominating the stage at The Green Door Store in 2023 at The Great Escape Festival in Brighton. Playfully taunting the “industry guys at the back” to move forward and dance along to her high energy anthems, the Irish songwriter and producer impressed us with her defiant attitude and eclectic mix of genre-blending songs. Fast forward ten months to her first London headline show at Camden Assembly, and the effect is very much the same.

Celebrating the release of her new EP, an object of desire, SPIDER performed a set of riotous, angst-ridden tunes about coming of age in an antagonistic world that often tries to interfere with, or dictate this deeply personal process. Joined on stage by her drummer and guitarist, she launched into the title track from her new record, which instigated an impassioned response from those at the front of the crowd. Wearing a t-shirt adorned with the slogan “Who TF is Spider?”, the Irish musician was quick to compliment her audience on how “hot” they all looked, before diving into tenacious renditions of ‘Straight Out The Oven’ and ‘Daisy Chains’.

From its inception, SPIDER’s set was a joyful, animated medley of pop punk and alt pop noise with the occasional slower tempo tune – like the smouldering ‘Romeo’, lifted from her debut EP, C.O.A (Coming Of Age) – cutting through. Between songs, her natural quick wit and charisma shone through. She encouraged members of the crowd to shout out the names of exes who’ve treated them badly, and took puerile delight in hearing them chant the lyrics to ‘Fuck You Fuck Everything’ from her second EP, HELL OR HIGH WATER, back at her.

SPIDER’s humour is underscored by a more urgent purpose though. Despite their ardour and her vivacious delivery, her songs are underscored by themes of alienation and inequality. On tracks like ‘TRAUMA’ and ‘5678’, which she dubbed as a new “fan favourite”, she takes an extended amount of time to contextualize why she creates her music. ‘TRAUMA’ was inspired by the entitled behaviour of a white boy who refused to pay for his shots when she was working behind a bar, whilst ‘5678’ focuses on the gendered double standards and the unacknowledged emotional labour of girls and women. Her reflections on the emotional resilience that’s required to endure and heal from these experiences is driven home by her direct lyrics, strong vocal performance and clear intonation.

SPIDER openly explained that as both a young woman, and a young woman of colour, she routinely grapples with the contradictory ways in which her behaviour on and off-stage is analysed and interpreted by others. ‘5678’ is SPIDER’s way of navigating this chaos, rejecting false perceptions, and moving forward with the strength of her fans, who cheered along as she acknowledged these damaging and unfair projections.

The Irish musician is a passionate advocate for instigating change in a predominantly white, male music industry. This is reflected in her crowd, formed of majority female and gender-non-confirming fans who dance and sing without inhibition, and in her choice of support acts; she shared the bill with fellow emerging alternative artists of colour SAFESP8CE and BUKKY. This outlook is also epitomised during her corrosive closing track, ‘America’s Next Top Model’, which was penned as a response to the backlash and whitewashing she has experienced online. During the performance, she joined her crowd as they playfully pushed each other in the mosh pit, openly enjoying her moment in the spotlight at her first London headline.

Whilst SPIDER’s live set is ultimately a space for fans to cut loose and forget about the outside world, it also serves as a reminder that if we want artists like her to thrive, we need to start showing up for them; whether that’s physically at gigs, buying their music, or simply spreading the word about them online.

Follow SPIDER on Spotify, Instagram, Twitter & Facebook

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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WATCH: BCOS RSNS – ‘(First On At The) Buffalo Bar’

A catchy and absorbing debut single, ‘(First On At The) Buffalo Bar‘ by BCOS RSNS is a deceptively upbeat love letter to a precarious live music scene. A bouncy rhythm blending with cheery keys and fuzzy guitar riffs captures the liveliness and excitement of being at the kind of gig that makes it worth paying London prices for a pint.

The verses recount fond memories of the kind of weird and wonderful acts that find the space to perform in small venues willing to take a punt on something different, and anyone who knows and loves a local venue with a cramped stage and an eclectic-bordering-on-chaotic rotation of performers will recognise at least some of the images conjured in this track. The bright chorus repeats “I wanna be first on at the Buffalo Bar” with an infectious enthusiasm that makes you want to take your weird idea and go play there too. The riff beneath is an absolute earworm that will have you humming that chorus for a long time.

Regretful repeated lines come in towards the end that give the song an all too familiar sense of heartbreak; the simple change to the lyrics, with almost no shift in the music subverts the happy experiences into just memories. The sense of nostalgia is nice, but the loss of such a gem to the live music scene is tragic, and that feeling evokes the loss of many, many incredible community spaces lost to the ravages of late stage capitalism. It tinges those stories with sadness that even the most busy, vibrant cities can’t keep their best small venues afloat.

‘(First On At The) Buffalo Bar’ expertly captures the existential anxiety of seeing a scene you love to be a part of crumble away before your eyes, as a brutal economy and an increasing disregard for the arts rip holes in the fabric of the DIY community.

BCOS RSNS have chosen their debut perfectly. Given the presence the band have in the DIY scene in London, as familiar faces at all the best gigs both on stage and supporting from the crowd, this track really represents their authentic personality as well as introducing their sound to people further afield hearing them for the first time.

BCOS RSNS, the eponymous debut album from the band, is out on 22nd May, and you can celebrate the release with them live at The Cavendish Arms on 25th May.

Kirstie Summers
@ActuallyKurt

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LIVE (Photos): Cherym @ Paper Dress Vintage, 24.02.2024

Having just released their debut album, Take It Or Leave It, last month via Alcopop! Records, Northern Irish trio Cherym have been big faves of ours since I first fell in love with them playing Paper Dress Vintage back in 2021. And I was lucky enough to re-live this experience last Saturday as they returned to the venue, delivering an even more wonderful set to an even bigger and adoring crowd. Fizzing with all the colourful punk-pop energy we’ve come to know and love, whilst offering fierce reflections on gender inequality and violence against women, as well as their own lived experiences as Gen Z queer folk, both the album and their live set continue to cement Cherym as one of the most exciting bands around at the moment. And I fully expect to be seeing and hearing lots more of them throughout 2024 – find out more here.

As well as immersing ourselves in their captivating raging joy at the gig last week, we were lucky enough to have a quick chat with Hannah and Alannah from the band about the tour and the new album. See our photos of the night, including excellent support from new faves Brutalligators and Hamburg’s Get Jealous, and snippets from the interview below…

Hannah: “The tour has been really, really good – we sold out our first ever Manchester headline show which was really exciting, and we also sold out our London show which is incredible. For me, it just sort of confirmed there has been a growth for the band and that more people are starting to hear our music which is amazing, and it’s a really exciting thing that’s starting to happen. We’re currently just back from the Netherlands which was really cool, there were loads of people we got to see that we haven’t met before that we’ve seen online and stuff. It was just really exciting.”

Hannah: “We wanted this album to be our truth. We wanted to be unapologetically ourselves, and I feel like that’s what we stuck by. People always used to label us as being a political band based primarily off the fact that we were all femme presenting people. We were all women and non-binary people within the band, and we were all also queer, but we never outwardly said we were a political band, we just got labelled as such. So I think with this record we were like, ‘you know what, we’ll give you political’. We have songs like ‘Alpha Beta Sigma‘ that’s very reflective of everything that’s been happening, like the atrocities of the church back home, and songs like ‘The Thing About Them’ which is about Nyree’s experience as a non-binary person, and we just wanted to speak our truth on a lot of issues.”

Alannah: “The fans have been really supportive. The new fans especially have really grasped onto the album and it’s been really lovely to see that we’ve connected with so many people. The fans that have stuck by us for a really long time have really resonated with it as well. A lot of our fans tend to be one of two people – old punk rockers who feel nostalgic about the new punk scene, and then the other side is younger fans who can relate to the lyricism and style of music that we play. When we were teenagers we really had nobody to look up to, or if there were they would be hidden between all the mainstream artists who were white men. It’s kind of nice that we’ve been able to showcase queer punk because we all come from different backgrounds, and it’s nice to see younger fans identify with that.”

Alannah: “I think our festival season is going to be really interesting this year with the new album out in the world. We’re hoping to go abroad this time again when it comes to festivals, some bigger and better things — climbing up that ladder -, which we’re really excited for. There may be some announcements coming soon too…

Hannah: “Yeah new adventures in new territories! Next for us is the Enter Shikari shows in Ireland, so we’ve got two shows in Dublin and we’ve got a show in Belfast as well, which is just insane because we’ve all been fans of this band from when we were teenagers, so to be selected to be one of the support acts for this tour is incredible. And we’re playing with Meryl Streek as well, which is going to be amazing – we love Meryl and we love his music and everything he stands for, so it’s going to be really cool.”

Alannah: “We also have something exciting in the bag that we recently announced… Our cover of Doja Cat’s ‘Boss Bitch’ which is coming out on International Women’s Day, so we’re really excited to see the reception for that! We’re also doing German dates with Get Jealous and we’re also playing again in Germany later this year with The Undertones – I think that’s all we can say without getting in trouble for now!”

Get Jealous:

Brutalligators:

Massive thanks to Hannah and Alannah from Cherym for chatting to us, and putting on such a wonderful show at Paper Dress Vintage last weekend! Take It Or Leave It, the new debut album from Cherym, is out now via Alcopop! Records – order here.

Photo Credit: Paul Dawes / @GRNDglass

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