Death Valley Girls / DeafDeafDeaf / Total Luck / Wax Head – Projekts Skatepark, Manchester, UK, 3rd March 2023

LA’s Death Valley Girls have just released their latest full length, Islands In The Sky, via Suicide Squeeze Records and are on tour across Europe, including a visit to Manchester’s Projekts Skatepark that features support from Birmingham’s Total Luck and local acts DeafDeafDeaf and Wax Head at a venue I was previously blissfully unaware of, most likely as my knees are way beyond any of the usual activities on offer, and there’s also the fact it’s nestled right underneath the Manchester Flyover.

Tonight is a rare occasion as I’ve never caught of any of the bands on tonight’s line up live before and we’re also being introduced to a new venue, which is of course exactly how we like things. My early thoughts are that I should have done more research before leaving tonight, It turns out the Projekts Skatepark is outdoors … in Manchester … in Early March. This is not the ideal city for a late night open air gig at this time of year, but we’re here and we’re not leaving, although I’m starting to lose contact with my fingers way before the first band has appeared.

Local act, Wax Head, are first up on this freezing evening, full of energy, they open with a pounding set that blends a youthful snotty attitude, spacey jams and garage punk energy, only the drummer & vocalist is jacketless, something that is replicated across the night. All the while skaters are still zipping around the ramps at the back of skatepark, which adds getting run over to the usual gig hazards. You just have to dance to Wax Head‘s opening set, not least because it keeps you vaguely warm, but that’s not the only reason as one of Manchester’s newest acts have delivered an intriguing opening set of driven garage punk.

A few degrees lower and next up is Total Luck, full on rage clad in warm clothing. Initially the trio deliver full on bass heavy riot grrrrlll punk rock. Technical issues don’t floor them, they just keep going regardless as their sound branches out and dips in out of alternative influences from rock ‘n roll through to hard hitting punk rock. As their set progresses they eventually shed some of the insulating layers, and as we are confronted by the full on rage and grace of Total Luck, a gritter truck drives past the skatepark ahead of the predicted snowfall, they sum it up with “it’s a bit cold innit” before launching into another frenzied burst that descends into sonic chaos. 

With our breath now frosting before us DeafDeafDeaf take to the stage, and in complete contrast to their predecessors they hit us with some thoughtful melodic post punk that draws from the legacy of, and picks up the torch from, The Chameleons. The hallmark deep rumbling bass and treble laced guitar provide a welcome indie punk update on the post punk sound that we all now know a little too well. There’s a kind of swagger and that cocksure attitude that some Mancunian bands develop, and DeafDeafDeaf have that in abundance. Their set is delivered with confidence, whether this came from the hip flask I saw being swigged from I can’t say, although I’m wishing I’d thought of it by this stage of the evening.

As the temperature continues to drop Death Valley Girls finally take the stage, reduced to a trio on this tour they carry on in the face of adversity and although they are stripped down in numbers, their set carries the unique mix of menace and otherworldliness that their five full lengths have delivered, although they probably weren’t wearing Bobble hats when they originally recorded them. Hypnotic rhythms collide with savage fuzz and Bonnie Bloomgarden’s hypnotic vocals. Death Valley Girls effortlessly switch from almost ethereal psyche to savage fuzzed out garage rock, all of which is delivered with a life affirming joy.

Bonnie Bloomgarden does comment on the fact that despite the plummeting temperatures there are those in the crowd drinking “a nice cold beer to help you to get over this heatwave”, I concur as I decided a while ago that it was way too cold for beer. The high point of the set for me was the almost psychedelic drone of Magic Powers, a track that to my ears sounds invigorated in their reduced capacity. Loss and change do not daunt Death Valley Girls, as with their latest album it is evident that this is a band that draws and builds from adversity.

This is a unique venue in Manchester, one I hope to see more gigs at, just maybe in the Spring and Summer, and I can confirm there are further shows planned for this city’s warmer months. Projekts Skatepark is an inclusive space that offers a unique venue for live music. It might seem like I was moaning about the cold, and to be fair I was, and so were the bands, but this is a show that will live long in the memory, not just the venue and the cold, but for the much anticipated visit of Death Valley Girls to our shores, and my first live encounter with them. Sadly the weather is beyond their control, but this (temporary) trio certainly cast a unique spell tonight. And so we head off into the Manchester night, not in search of beer, but of warmth, and maybe a cup of tea. 

Photography by Gary M Hough of Shot From Both Sides