I arrived at Signature Brew last night sulking over a petty fight, coat dragging on the cobbled street, soaking up the month's first rain. Snug in the arch of Signature Brew, I was sitting out a game of foosball, nursing an IPA for the pain, when the battle cry of Comic Sans came from the stage.
Poised as a warrior, arm beckoning overhead, the front woman yelled, ousting the stewing cloud that had formed over me. What I needed was some well-translated, second hand catharsis, and boy did I get it. Comic Sans took the darkness and doom I was feeling and spat back something of equal darkness, but something fun, energetic and cheeky.
Their set was full of heavy riffs, grungy, sludgy, thrash when you wanted it, I even heard that they all knit - what more could you want from a band?
Cucamaras followed gorgeously, their impression on me aided by my discovery and consumption of Largaritas (lager X margarita (?)).
I saw this band in Brighton last year at The Great Escape and jumped at the chance to see them again. They had played to a large crowd at Chalk and I had been stuck at the back behind a concerning amount of stiff, unmoving 35 year old men.
At signature Brew the crowd were few but fluid, and appropriately appreciative of the Nottingham- hailing noise. The set was fraught with wilting mic stands (which must be painstakingly crouched underneath) and sleeves too long to play guitar with; consequently the gig contained everything I love to see in a live show.
The set went back and forth, from Idles-esque yelled societal critiques to some really mushy pop punk sentiment, with aptly melancholic outro riffs. The harmonic vocals in new track Laughing was the pinnacle, for me, of what was really a very sweet set.
Cucamaras thrived on the intimate energy of a small venue, they played the perfect level of crowd interaction and delivered noise. Their reservoir of sound transcends genre in a simultaneously jolting and fluid way. I would almost go as far as to say that these guys are worth going to Nottingham to see – but regardless of one’s stance on the Midlands, it’d be great to see these guys in London more often.
Best gig I've been to in ages.
You can still grab a AAA pass to access every single show in their series running until mid March here
Photos: Melissa Darragh