Why don’t more support bands play completely wrecked? I mean utterly reeking, wobbly, confused and destroyed by alcohol? Some sort of heroic trophy for Booze please, who got pulled from the pub football with two hours’ notice, and asked to play their debut gig after putative headliners Hot Bone pulled out. To combat nerves (this may be an excuse), these also-members of Death Of Her Money and The Aviary have sunk even more drinks, and are now onstage, sort of. Bass and drums fall in and out of time with each other; singer Dan decides he doesn’t like his guitar and throws it across the room. He also doesn’t like his coat, and it goes the same way. The words ‘your’, ‘fucking’ and ‘aaargh’ are shouted in various combinations. A small bottle of Bell’s gets opened, cap chucked away, and quickly spilt. The next song is Dan licking whiskey off the floor. The mic is finally discarded and full agitated tramp action happens, ranting blind amongst the audience. Booze are drunk. Booze are great.
Swerving back on the intended guitar/drums attack duo theme, Brown Wings‘ set is tight, sparky and proves I’d be a rubbish soundman: their amp seizes up and I don’t even notice. Momentum built up via compressed riffing and clattering drums is lost slightly; awkward spiderlines dominate the next couple of songs. By the end though, full throttle power is restored, guitar noise crunches and shoots over manaical tub-thumbing, rocking like Lightning Bolt if played by simple mortals. A hefty dose of what feels right.
The fact that both members of Zail sit down to play works with them: you lean in, check the constant eye contact, get swamped. Zail have kept the glacial post rock element from previous band Mountain Men Anonymous, and bolted it to a streamlined delivery system, so that songs that build from simple repeated motifs and end with great crashing motifs come drenched with woozy waves of distortion. Their last song is a great rampage through unstable riffs, drums detonating at the end, fiery rock action. Of all the various ways to get devastated tonight, Zail are one of the best we’ve got.
