Its a slight disappointment that History Of Sex are not a Dave Gorman-ish power-point presentation about the birds and the bees. But a really good Birmingham based trio, This was their first ever gig sand they sounded surprisingly good considering that. Their music is loud, riffy, groovy and very bass heavy. Which is odd considering that they don't have a bassist. Their singer is a tall, skinny geezer who half raps/half screams over the noise the other two make. They made a great start to the night and are one of the best new Birmingham bands I've seen in ages.
As their name hints Weirds are a bit of something different. They seemed almost like two bands. One being a grungey rock n' roll band (e.g. Drenge) the other a hip electronic-indie project (E.g. East India Youth). It was the strange ethereal keyboard sounds and deep echo on the singers voice that made them sound unique, alongside the heavy riffs and crashing drums. Both the singer and guitarist decided to join me halfway up the stairs, while the guy on bass was happy to just stand playing and headbanging in the middle of the crowd. Their music is a strange combination, but I felt that there was something original, and also kind of brilliant about them, weird as they are. For some reason God Damn had 'Nights Outro' (from Metronomy's brilliant 'Nights Out'). The twanging out of tune guitars of that song were an odd choice but, it was a brilliant tune for building the suspense. The room was completely packed full of obsessive, sweaty fans. There was an odd burning smell from all the sweat, and blood red lights flooded the room.
If you haven't been to a God Damn show or heard their music then the name should explain it for you. Their music is an insanely loud mix of fuzzy guitar pedals, frantic screaming and punishing, pummelling drums. Basically, its heavy metal stripped back and taken back to its black country roots, with all the fun that's missing from the screamo bands intact. If you've heard the LP 'Vultures', it's like that. But louder. Both the band and fans were constantly crowd surfing, as (guitarist/singer) Thom pointed out, we all felt like we'd had 'the opposite of a shower'. God Damn sweat buckets onstage, which makes holding them above your heads difficult. He also announced that their label* had made the 'stupid decision' to let them make a second one, to a roar of approval. God Damn's new bassist made an appearance. He looks vaguely like Jared Leto and got the job despite not being 'slightly chubby enough'. The new single 'dead to me' (which is about making friends, apparently), is already a fan favourite despite being weeks old, another new track 'Ghosts' also confirmed that there's no change in the bands sound on LP2. Sadly a curfew meant that we had to end with God Damn's slow ballad 'Skeletons'. Some people stood still and sang along for a few minutes, until the huge guitar riffs got people crowd surfing again. And like that it was over. The show felt a bit short, but like all God Damn shows, very sweaty, very loud, and loads of fun.
Links
https://soundcloud.com/historyofsex
https://soundcloud.com/weirds
http://goddamntheband.com/
* They are signed to One Little Indian Records, Home to Bjork!
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