One of my favourite gigs so far this year, all cracking bands.
Previously published on mintsouth.com in Apr 2009
Words - Suzy Sims
Editor - Rob Ball
(c) mintsouth
THE RAKES, SKY LARKIN, OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT @ WEDGEWOOD ROOMS 22/04/2009
For a midweek gig, The Rakes ‘Work Work Work (Pub Club Sleep)’ is well named. The band is DJing after this show and there are likely to be a few bleary faces in offices around Portsmouth the next day. Having dashed to the Wedgewood Rooms from work work work, I’m wearing a t shirt for The Rifles, mainly because a) it was clean and b), well, it was clean. I spend the night slightly embarrassed in case someone thinks I misread the listings and am expecting some jaunty Jam-alikes instead of some art punk mischief.
Arriving shortly after Official Secrets Act took to the stage, faces daubed with Adam Ant go-faster stripes, I was very impressed by the epic, slightly wistful charm and energy in their songs and couldn’t believe I hadn’t caught up with them sooner. There’s not a dull moment in the set. Final track ‘The Girl From The BBC’ surprises everyone when the onstage electrics cut out and it turns into an impromptu singalong, but the band look completely unfazed by the technical malfunction. Other songs we get include ‘Victoria’, ‘So Tomorrow’ and ‘Mainstream’.
There’s a guy in the front row singing along to Official Secrets Act. “I want to have your babies!” yells another over-excited gig-goer at the close of the set. Though I wouldn’t say gigs should be used for picking future life partners in this fashion, one should definitely check this band out. For their music, of course.
“I do like to be beside the seaside,” announces singer Katie Harkin from ever-pleasant Leeds band Sky Larkin. It was satisfying to catch a full set – I’ve caught them a couple of times before, but only ever the final ten minutes, so it was good to hear more material. Sadly their sounds are gentler and don’t carry as well to the back of the venue, so I plunge further crowd-wards to get the full effect. The bass is surprisingly heavy and the crashing percussion overwhelms Katie’s quirky, jumpy voice at times.
Their songs have a real charm though on record they do sometimes come across too cutesy; however live they break into enjoyable dance-punk. Katie is a picture of understated coolness, guitar aloft for ‘Summit’, cleverly avoiding the male hecklers and bounding around under her pigtails. Other tracks tonight include ‘Beeline’ and ‘Molten’, fresh from their debut album ‘The Golden Spike’. Sky Larkin are frothy, sweet and nice. They just are. Frankly I don’t see how it’s possible to dislike them.
And someone else it’s not possible to dislike – The Rakes front-man Alan Donohoe. Arriving on stage, all wild eyeballs and red gloves, it’s impossible to tear your eyes from his dancing. It appears to be based around self defence moves, should you ever need to protect yourself from a boxing kangaroo that is. “Are you ready for some sexy shit?” The Rakes ask in between their relentlessly explosive art-punk and banshee wails. Yes, yes we are. Bring it.
The Rakes first crashed into everyone’s radar in 2005 with the snappy ‘Capture/Release’ and they’re now out and about promoting their third album.
The band’s opening track tonight ‘You’re In It’ is accompanied by crazed strobe light as everyone jumps about in what feels like slow motion. We get plenty of new tracks off latest album ‘Klang’, such as ‘Shackleton’ and ‘The Light From Your Mac’, though favourites ’22 Grand Job’, ‘We Danced Together’ and ‘The World Was A Mess But His Hair Was Perfect’ get the best crowd reaction. There’s even a crowd-surfer (just the one; but give him credit, he does have several attempts). There’s only one track in the encore (‘Strasbourg’) but the strobe lights come out to again destroy anyone who was left twitching on the floor by the earlier lot.
The Rakes have a brilliant streak of quirky fun and a real bite to their songs. The red glove fashion may not catch on as quickly as they’re hoping, but their indie punk aggression should be around a while longer. Thank goodness for that.
http://www.therakes.co.uk
http://www.myspace.com/skylarkinskylarkin
http://www.myspace.com/officialsecretsact
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