The past week or so I have been lucky enough to see some incredible gigs up there with some of the best of the year, in the case of Savages one of my favourites ever. This strong line up from Ideal Surreal at The Owl Sanctuary brought us Skinny Girl Diet from London and our own Peach Club and Sink Ya Teeth. An all-girl line up, and talking with Annie Catwoman afterwards it got me thinking about these great gigs: Savages, PINS, Honeyblood, Low, Sink Ya Teeth, Peach Club, and Skinny Girl Diet … only two men in that list and both of them are in Low!
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Sink Ya Teeth opened the music at about 8:30pm in a rapibly filling Owl with Maria and Gemma looking relaxed, happy and confident, as well they should. In their short career as Sink Ya Teeth they’ve been developing at a fast pace and are continually adding new songs to their catalogue, some of which were aired here like In Out, with hints of White Rabbit. They sounded powerful and are always interesting, ever improving developing and growing. They have become one of my favourite local bands, a tremendous live act with real potential. See them.
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In the three or four times I’ve caught Peach Club they’ve endeared themselves to me a lot. These Norwich Riot Girrrls have that certain something that makes them stand out, along with some good natured attitude and spirit, a captivating dervish of a frontwoman in Katie Revell (“Girls invented Punk, not England”) backed by a powerful and cool band with a good feeling of unity and love of what they’re doing. They too are developing their sound and have some killer tunes.
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Skinny Girl Diet from London were relatively unknown to me but they definitely made a big impression. This trio were cool and quiet at first as they took to the stage and let the music do the talking but they responded to the entusuastic audience and ever-growing moshpit at the front, chatted more and as the energy between band and crowd bounced back and forth the gig just got better and better. An absolute powerhouse of noisy Riot Grrrl grunge they were having a blast, proclaiming with smiles “Norwich is awesome!” as that moshpit got bigger without letting up for a second. Great scenes and sounds at the Owl for this Ideal Surreal gig. Check out the series of launch gigs for We’re From Norwich, spread over a whole weekend from 17 December at Gringos, The Owl, and Playhouse Bar.
(c) shashamane http://www.norwichblog.com
Afterwards I headed to OPEN and arrived in good time to catch some Wayward Natives dj selections and a long-awaited set from Solko. It feels like ages since I’ve seen these boys play though I often see Ash and Jordan out and about at gigs in the city. Incredibly, it may well have been their support slot with The Wailers at UEA last year when I last saw them play. The OPEN club room looked great with winter foliage decor, by Henry I believe, and my favourite touch being “SOLKO” spelled out in gnarled wood on a pallet. I’ve missed hearing Solko, they sounded really sweet, tight and looked relaxed and happy, all smiles and with a truly special, warm rapport with their audience. A lovely set to close the live music, I think everyone would have loved to play and hear more but the live music curfew had been reached but not for the recorded so there were some lovely scenes on the dancefloor as Wayward Native closed the night with some awesome African and Latin grooves. We’re so lucky to have all these musical people in Norwich, Music City UK.
(c) shashamane http://www.norwichblog.com
Making my way through an almost deserted city centre on my way home I had my first chance to check out the light tunnel between Haymarket and The Forum.
(c) shashamane http://www.norwichblog.com
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(c) shashamane 2016 http://www.norwichblog.com
Big thanks to Ash, Hubs, Solko, Open, Sean, The Owl and all the bands.
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Norwich: Music City, UK 