Live: Wet Nuns – Birthdays

“I don’t know why they booked a bunch of heavier bands before us.” Drummer Alexis is miffed. Wet Nuns are in London to promote their new single Broken Teeth and the bands on before them have screamed in deep voices words like “DOOOOOMMM” without even a hint of Dalston’s finest irony. Luckily, things always make sense at a Wet Nuns show.

As the bull-horns are placed on the drum kit, the lights kept to a minimum and arguments with the crowd about previous London shows, converse and the geographical heritage of the two members of the Sheffield band (neither are from Yorkshire) are complete however; that mirage of sanity goes out the window. Surely something can make this evening make sense? I mean, Sound Influx did this evening pay a fiver for a rum and coke in a part of London that five years ago he would have expected to been able to at least buy a double for that.

The music. Thank goodness the headliners play music! The aforementioned new single sounds fresh amongst a series of songs that make the Black Keys look like posers whilst rock and roll screams on in El Camino’s tracks.  Racing through an hour long setlist in order to fit it into a 45minute slot seems to suit the duo, complete with bull horns on Alexis’ drum kit power through tour-track Broken Teeth and sound like a tighter unit than we’ve ever heard them before in the process. Tracks such Heaven’s Below turn frontman Rob from relatively unassuming chap into rock colossus as his command of the guitar and powerful roar takes the relatively small venue by hold and the crowd by storm.

From this point, its rather difficult to tell what happens. The Nuns are so loud and the crowd begin to be so raucous that it’s impossible to take even phone notes from where Sound Influx is stood, right at the front. For this, we apologise. For imparting the knowledge upon you that as far as bands that make you want to rock without sounding dated in the slightest; bands that spend time joking with the crowd before kicking into no-nonsence two-piece heavy-blues; bands that won’t stick out in a tiny Dalston venue nor Reading stage but will stand out anywhere; you want Wet Nuns. 

Braden Fletcher