Photo: +++ponyrock+++ www.flickr.com/photos/---ponyrock---/
Following two excellent support sets from Animals Talking (spatial, almost glacial Joy Division-esque indie pop) and Fangs (like a Scottish Crystal Castles, but with entirely their own ideas and less undeserved media hype), the standard has been set and it’s pretty fucking high. Holloway boys We Smoke Fags are going to have to play a pretty tight set to stop themselves from getting upstaged by their awesome support bill. ‘Tight’ probably isn’t the right choice of word to use when describing this group though; in fact, it definitely isn’t. Raucous, rowdy, electrifying, invigorating... anything but ‘tight’. That’s not to disrespect Fags in any way, they would rather lose their edge if everything was perfect all the time.
Tonight, they’re their usual exciting selves, albeit battling through technical problems that leave a little to be desired in the sound department but that is beyond the band’s control. Still, songs like ‘Lust Puppet’ and ‘I Love You’ shine through, showing just how good these purveyors of electro punk can be. The whole set is packed with dirty, scuzzy electro hits that get the London crowd dancing, from ‘Passion for Fashion’ to the ‘Canapé of Love’, witty b-side to debut single and set closer, ‘Eastenders’. Despite the issues with sound, it’ll be hard to walk away from tonight’s gig feeling anything less than elated, a testament to the trio’s on-stage presence and charisma, and songwriting ability.
Rhian Daly
