The Sheffield Scenester

I’d just had a pretty good evening down at The Plug watching Man Bites Fridge, The Old Whores of San Pedro and Dead Delta (review up soon!) which had made for quite a cross section of classic blues based styles. Just before Dead Delta were due to start I bumped into Phil and Tommy from The Elephant Keys (one of my favourite Sheffield bands)...so during a quick chat I found out that they had volunteered their services working the BBQ at The Tent next to City Hall. More importantly though it turned out that La Folie were playing there too, so if I hurried I could catch them after seeing Dead Delta, as an added bonus he’d sort me out with a burger as well – that sold me straight away! About a month ago I was given La Folie’s album to review and due to its macabre originality haven’t stopped playing it since, so I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to see them live.

Traipsing through the rain from The Plug I found The Tent happily squatting next to City Hall, so albeit slightly cold and wet...I made my way inside. Just inside on the left of the entrance was what passed for a stage and in mid performance were Sheffield’s very own answer to Deliverance, the moonshine fuelled duet of Wet Nuns. I briefly stopped to watch...but then headed to the bar for refreshments, even though this was situated at the other end of the tent I could still hear Wet Nuns quite clearly and I have to say...with what I can only describe as a slightly superior sound system they did produce a more melodic performance. Due to the style of their delivery the lyrics were at times incomprehensible but the sliding blues guitar of Doc Skrot was unmistakeably defined. Between songs they certainly had an interesting line of banter; on announcing that the next track was “A song about death” we were all encouraged to say “cheers to death”. When it came to playing the track ‘Ram It Home’ (by far their catchiest and best tune), we were cordially informed that this was “a song about being a c**t to women”, the audience just seemed to go along with it...mind you...it was pretty late so no doubt quite a few had spent most of the day here! Concluding the set with a slowed down bluesy version of ‘Bad moon Rising’ was a masterstroke on their part, even though I’ll always stay loyal to the CCR version, it was a relaxed finish to a rough and ready set. All I can say is you don’t have to be tanked up to see these guys...but it certainly helps!

By now it was fast approaching midnight and the crowd had been whittled down to about a hundred, some of whom were outside so I joined them partly for fresh air and also to grab that burger Phil had promised. He seemed in his element offering an array of fast food delights...but I just settled on a bacon cheeseburger; tasty little bugger it was too! Meanwhile back in the tent the assembled crowd were treated to the likes of Led Zep, Iggy Pop and The Ramones which for filler music was a pretty luxurious offering to say the least.

At last it came time for La Folie, with feedback laced distortion their set began in earnest and like their album you are immediately taken aback as to the amount of raw energy these guys throw out at you. During the track ‘Apples’ the drummer, Dan, was banging away so hard he bust a stick but undeterred carried on. The singer, Nick, swapped keyboard for guitar on virtually every other song, while he practically screamed down the mic. On guitar was Jacko, but even he swapped that for an interesting array of instruments half of which I’ve never seen before. This multi-faceted quartet certainly know how to entertain, more surprisingly they reproduced their albums cacophony of sound impeccably, or as close as they could bearing in mind the limitations of the sound system - Playing some of the best tracks off the album and i have to say the crowd loved it, most of whom were singing or dancing along! All the while behind the band was an overhead projection of their name, as with every band just in case the gathered fans were unsure of whom they were watching! On realising this..and not being overly impressed with the style...Nick with his ever subtle terminology took one look and described it as “smoker’s phlegm on a semen carpet”...which brought a rather awkward silence before the rest of the band joined in the criticism. Finishing off an entertaining set was the classic (and my favourite track) ‘Arachnophobia’, now this one drops all standard instrumentation in favour of a more circus themed melody underlying its macabre intentions. I have to say it sounded brilliant as Nick’s singing reached near psychotic pitch, but try as he could he couldn’t drown out the inspired joviality of the big top. Ironic really when you consider that this disturbing pageant was actually being performed in a tent.

So a special thanks to Phil for pointing me in this direction as well as supplying a good burger, I’d thoroughly recommend seeing both these bands. What they may lack in fashion sense – Wet Nuns in particular – they more than compensate for in entertainment value alone.

Words/Photos by Geoff Buckthorpe