The art of promoting gigs is a tricky one. People book to see the main act – in this case the monolithic Ogives Big Band – but the aim is to include support acts that will compliment them and warm the audience up for the main event. Props to whoever created tonight’s line-up as it was a great arc from alt-pop, dark noise to jazz-metal.
Opening the evening were Muncle, brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Mike Griffiths who records solo and then gathers friends to play live. It was a rousing start to the show as they effortlessly wove alt-rock, indie and pop together with some lush three-part harmonies. It’s hard to balance heavy and light, the melodious and the wig-out, but, from song to song, Muncle kept us on our toes never quite expecting what would come next. I try not to cite too many ‘sounds like’ when describing bands but Muncle were a glorious musical rock tumbler colliding Pixies, Cheap Trick, Fu Manchu, Bad Religion, Nirvana, Fallout Boy, Boston, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, The Monkees, The Kinks and more, into a polished collection of raucous, tuneful songs.
After such a buoyant start Obey Cobra were the alt-pop antonym; a black mass held on deconsecrated land at midnight under a full moon. Electronics laid the foundation at the start of the set with misty swarms of low register synthesised sounds slowly building to a feverish assault of sound and fury. Drummer Stephen Jones and bass player Rory Coughlan-Allen held the darkness together with subterranean power while guitarist Gareth John Day used his instrument as audio sandpaper ensuring any shiny surfaces in the songs were scratched into submission. Over this inky maelstrom singer K Wood switched her vocals from beguiling and ethereal to primal scream, riding the sonic darkness the band produce. Obey Cobra are thunderously serious, they don’t stare into the abyss, they are the abyss.
Ogives Big Band take to the stage like Norse gods on a day trip from Asgard with vocalist Steve Roberts as a young Odin, crackling with energy and leonine hair, and with a scream that could shake the tree of life off its roots. Guitarist/band leader Ben Harris is Heimdall; ever vigilant as the source code for the songs, using his guitar as polyrhythmic glue as well as to launch glissando bolts of fret lightning. Bassist Corey Carruthers Bell is Thor, bringing thunder to bear in order to create heft and power as well as often matching Harris’s riffs, and drummer John Stewart is Hermod, the fastest of all the gods unphased by the changing rhythms and driving everyone with his speed and power.
This was the Ogives night and the crowd went wild as each song from their new album Boisterous Love threatened to break the cones of the inhouse PA. There was an especially loud roar when the tinny pre-recorded section gave way to the immense tectonic crunch of ‘Super Sanity’. The great joy of the Ogives is not just their ability to be deadly serious about their playing but how they deliver it with a great sense of humour. It’s a winning combination that I believe will see them win them legions fans and hopefully huge success along with it.
You too can experience the shock and awe of an Ogives gig as they have three remaining dates on their current tour:
July 31 – The Black Heart, London, UK | August 1 – The Moon, Cardiff, UK | August 2 – The Junction, Plymouth, UK
Ogives Big Band socials: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram
Obey Cobra socials: Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | X | YouTube
Muncle socials: Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Instagram | X | YouTube
Review and Photographs by Paul F Cook
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