Rowan Bruce
Any band’s first show can be nerve-wracking but starting sharing a line up stacked with some of the scene’s most exciting names is a true test of a group’s grit. With their doomy mix of shoegaze and punk, the three-piece pulled off an admirable first swing with enough low and slow riffs to shake the stage and enough punk energy to shake the crowd. If Pesto can hone their sound and keep up the momentum they seem to have built with the packed out Clwb Ifor Bach then this young trio could easily make a name for themselves in the local scene.
When Cardiff locals Spit Hood take to the stage, the five-piece look like anything but an average rock band. Any instrument vaguely resembling your dad’s Stratocaster has been binned off, replaced with metal chains and a baccy tin full of bolts being rubbed against a microphone accompanied by a barking, shirtless frontman, a DJ, masked dancer/backing vocalist and drum kit that seemed to have been dragged out of a scrapyard. Sounding more akin to a Welsh Death Grips than your typical punk band, Spit Hood ripped through their rave fuelled blend of demented hip-hop, experimental industrial and hardcore punk with a passion that’s sure to set them up as the next underground sensation.
South Wales noise punk trio Shlug have spent the last few years carefully cultivating their noisy little niche with a famously unhinged live performance and catchy, manic songs to match. Frontman Ellis Acton-Dyer storms the stage like an escaped mental patient, screaming shirtless through their fuzzed-out, hardcore informed noise rock before bringing the crowd to an awed silence with a single hushed whisper. While far from accessible, it only takes hearing Shlug’s infectious, Shellac meets Future Of The Left energy to understand why they’re quickly becoming a name to watch in the depths of the Welsh underground.
Similarly to openers Pesto, Knives found themselves with an extremely high bar after a pair of unique and furious local supports, not only did the six-piece surpass expectations, they set a new standard for acts at their level. Fuelled by frontman Jay Schottlander’s unbridled charisma and a hearty dose of ferocious sax-laden beats, Knives confidently stormed through their set, starting off on a high note with recent sing-along single ‘THE DAGGER’.
Refusing to drop their energy for a single second, Knives flew through their latest single ‘PHD’, a swaggering mosh-starter, keeping the packed crowd enraptured even in the slower moments. Saxophone player and vocalist Izzi Allard stole the show in her dual role with a seemingly endless supply of energy, flying around the stage in a blur of blue hair and brass.
Knives held the sold out crowd on a tight leash, controlling the energy of the room with a masterful hand, igniting mosh pits with a flick of the wrist. The band kept a firm grip as they played through their upcoming album GLITTER almost in full before launching into a selection of their best known hits from the debut EP What We See In Their Eyes. By the time they closed out on hard-hitting anthem ‘Doppelganger’ the tightly packed room was ablaze with fans screaming along to every syllable of the set and gasping for more when the band left the stage.