Music > Live Reviews

Youth killed It - Undercover Pangolin - Snake Eyes

Voodoo Daddy's Showroom

29/11/21

With life edging back to some kind of normality, Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom is fast becoming one of most popular spots to catch growing acts that are local as well as much further a field.
 
As echoes of “I haven’t been here in soooooo long!” and “This is my first local gig night again” pinged throughout the Pizza Joint section of this venue, anticipation for The Showroom doors to open could be felt from those milling around the bar and smoking area.
 
With Soaked sadly having to pull out at the last minute, the doors were a little late on opening. Unbeknown to Soaked they had managed to create a buzz about the gig without even being there. rated towards to the stair way leading to good-live vibes.
 
Undercover Pangolin started the count-in for Youth Killed It, pretty much as soon as the showroom doors swung open. They instantly made up for the delay with fast paced rock belters. the front man, is the peak of energy for this five piece, as he bounces into all available spaces on the stage like a competitor in a Wimbledon final. As ever, anticipation aside, and along with the fact that we’re still amidst a pandemic, the crowd were their usual suspects of reserved gig goers to start with. However, the fully charged front man had an immediately positive reaction to the typical call out, coaxing the crowd to come forward and before you knew it, people were mingling, pushing up to the stage and those feet started a tapping on the ‘Dance Floor’. We’re at the gig now!

 
Then after a 4 hour journey from Brighton fuelled by milkshake, Snake Eyes brought that “between downs and sea” flourish to centre stage, as though the three were thrashing around on the head of a pin without fear of falling off. This motley crew of everything that we love Brighton for; a front man with some Southern comical charm on him, bass brought to you in killer heels and facial impressions from a drummer - that with a double take could easily be one of your mates at 3:48am after starting plans to open a themed bar together.  They warm themselves up in our fine city before starting an official tour with Waco this week, tune testing their eight track album ‘The Love/Hate Mixtape’ on a room now filling to the brim with canneries getting ready to sing with mosher’s sweat and you better believe that music matched the mood. ‘Infamous’ had a garage band grunge  Nirvana’s ‘Heart Shaped Box’ beat about it, which obviously went down well with the millennial 90’s obsessed crowd. Early on in this set the drummer seemed to have a couple of scuffles with an attention seeking audio equipment set up, but once remedied and propped up safely, he was soon engulfed by gig mode. Later, a track was sincerely dedicated as “one for all the weirdos” ‘Another Word’ quite literally plucked you from the ether for a casual glide through an audible space of awe and tranquility, while still ringing of Nirvana combined with a late 50’s / early 60’s vibe.

The Showroom crowd are well and truly hyped now as the whiff of Youth Killed It carnage raises in the air. Finally the head banger was whammy barred straight into the faces of the perspiring with passion crowd, ‘Scuttlebug’a thrasher that served as a totally shaking the cobwebs off catalyst for a simmering of a be-kind mosh (because punching isn’t cool) from the crowd. These three most likely grew up surrounded by Indie influences and now bring a twist of their personal influences to the stage with a string twang of grunge about them. Going from strangers, to mosh makers each track played, had a nostalgic echo to it and that’s why Snake Eyes were superb.
 
As the gang of headliners (Jack Murphy, Danny de Ara Torres, Josh Thexton, Joel Mullin and last but most certainly not least Paul Gaul) gather for a quick team talk on stage at the cusp of kicking into Youth Killed It, this stage instantly seems like it wasn’t big enough for the frantic five. They swing, they shake, they’re in and out of the crowd, all whilst never getting in one another’s way with their moves, stage banter and crowd chats. Looking around the Showroom, it’s clear that this pandemic has been left out in the cold as a pit takes that beautiful sea like form with a packed room. With songs about “what a c*nt Boris Johnson is!” why wouldn’t it be! Now the crowd are literally swinging from the rafters and chandelier, we’re about to have a fucking good time here tonight. But saying that, if you don’t believe that the key cast from Snatch - that’s right, Mickey to Tyrone - are also in the band, then you should probably sling your hook mate. As talk of the national trails over the past few years became more and more rowdy with blatant honesty from frontman Jack and passionate agreement from the swelling crowd, of course the Euros eventually cropped up. We all love the squad - come on - but when is it ever going to come home and last years Euros really was the ultimate tease of persistent failures. With that, of course, a track was dedicated to the boys along with those highs and lows of last years ‘Great British Summer’. Why Jack isn’t a teacher, I couldn’t tell you - this guy is so emotionally detailed when laying out the premise of a track. One such beautifully woven description lead into the high tempo and road rage charged ‘(Jean-Claude) Van Mann’. These off the wall interludes with the crowd ,as well as between the band members, are a reason alone to catch Youth Killed It live when you’re next able to - because you really do have to be there! Along with tracks that most certainly “ain’t an Oasis rip off” as phone lights replace the use of lighters to a chorus of “fuck Noel!”, others about Molly - because who doesn’t love a stroke of a stray cat - and the catchy hooks of tracks like ‘In Wonderland’ made this intimate gig seem much more like you were at the front of a big venue night with each track that came blasted out from the stage. Youth Killed It are like a big swagger Brit-Pop version of The Rakes, and if you don’t like that - you know what to do!

 
The final whistle blew and with thanks to everyone for such a massively successful night; from the Showroom guys on lights to the crowd and all bands that played the night - for one hell of a well deserved circle of gratitude. This full crowd participation cheers, hugs and love lingered as people were eventually asked nicely to make their way back to the Pizza Joint level of this venue. Undercover Pangolin, Snake Eyes and Youth Killed It sure turned it up for the night, and a high like that wasn’t likely to come down without a fight.