PHOXJAW BLUE STRAGGLERS
SIGNATURE BREW BREWERY
Bristol’s mutoid stoner rockers make the most welcome of returns
IT’S WEIRD. FAMILIAR and mundane in so many ways, but so wonderfully exotic and exciting in others; live music, actual live music right in front of your eyes, has returned. And it might be a freakishly windy Thursday night in a small brewery in East London, but, after the year we’ve all had, we’ll greedily lap it up. We’re not alone either, with so many people keen to get their fix of live music that the venue has had to move the gig outdoors to accommodate as many people as possible. Openers BLUE STRAGGLERS are the first live band experience most of us have had in what feels like forever, and, as such, their ALT-QOTSA riffs and melodies feel wonderful as they hit your ears. At present they don’t appear to have too many memorable songs, but the elements are in place if they hone their skills.
They’d do well to take a leaf out of PHOXJAW’S book – the Bristolian band have ramped up everything that made them so promising: from their first handful of EPS on last year’s Royal Swan debut album, and from the way they look and present themselves to the greater breadth of influences apparent on the record. It resulted in one of 2020’s most interesting records, and today we finally get to see how their indie, rock, punk and noise mash up works in the live setting.
Under usual circumstances you might bemoan the fact that the band are – how to put this politely? – a little on the loose side, or that the wind takes the sound from the limited PA and frustratingly swirls it about all over the place, but how can anyone be too critical when just being here feels like a win? And when Phoxjaw launch into Triple AAA, all Red Fang riffs married to art-rock quirkiness, or when half the band leap from the stage and ignore all social distancing guidelines to trash their equipment against a wall of feedback before vacating the premises, it’s like the last year never happened. Good lord, how we’ve missed this.
STEPHEN HILL