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Bido Lito! June 2015 Reviews
Drenge (Gaz Jones / @GJMPhoto)
DRENGE
PINS
EVOL @ The Kazimier
With the addition of a back-up vocalist and
synth player, there's not much room for PINS
to move on the Kazimier stage, but they more
than make the most of it with opener Lost
Lost Lost, a bolshy number that neatly sets the
tone with fizzy riffs and elements of Siouxsie,
Crystal Stilts and Warpaint.
Possessing the confidence of a band on the
brink of bursting out of indie circles and into
the mainstream consciousness, PINS’ set is all
glitter, pink lighting and spiky guitars, backed
up with shimmering synth lines and a healthy
dose of feminine fire that's perfectly rounded
off with a punked-up cover of Cyndi Lauper's
Girls Just Want To Have Fun.
From girl power to sheer testosteronedriven malice: screams and a fair amount of
jostling amongst the packed-out crowd –
which seems to dramatically swell in both size
and enthusiasm every time the headliners roll
bidolito.co.uk
through town – herald the arrival of Yorkshire
lads DRENGE on the stage.
From The Kinks to Van Halen and even, err,
The Osmonds, history is littered with great
bands borne from the efforts of siblings.
Maybe it's that eerie telepathic link that twins
have, or maybe it's less Children Of The Corn
and more just the fact that your bandmate
lives in the bunk bed above yours; whatever
it is, kin just seem to 'get it' better than kith
ever can.
That's no less true for Drenge, who up until
last year had been limited to just frontman
Eoin and drummer Rory Loveless, though
they've since picked up a bassist in the form of
ex-Wet Nuns frontman Rob Graham. It shows
a little that the band are still finding their feet
as a three-piece, but happily the extra element
now added to an already flawlessly volatile
mixture lends low-end weight to their sound,
particularly on tracks from their sophomore
effort Undertow.
Swapping a smidgeon of the raw edge of
their first album for a fuller and more rounded
approach, tunes like opener Running Wild and
the combustible We Can Do What We Want
show off more complex parts than were ever
attempted when Drenge were just still a duo.
Still, the bass doesn't yet seem to have
tapped into that unique sibling tel