Girls In Synthesis / Bones Shake / The Dirt – The Peer Hat, Manchester, UK, 20th October 2022

If you were going to pick a day to go and see a politically motivated post punk band, the day that the Prime Minister resigns is a good one, with the most useless leader since, well, since the last one, handing her notice in we live in a country that is rudderless and being pulled towards the edge. So on a damp night as yet another winter of discontent looms before us, we head into our regular stomping ground of Manchester’s The Peer Hat to catch Girls In Synthesis, whose albums, Now Here’s An Echo From Your Future and The Rest Is Distraction, are among the UK’s most relevant releases of the last few years.

Post punk originally emerged as darker times enveloped the UK, so it makes sense that Girls In Synthesis have risen to prominence as they tackle the current political chaos head on. But as ever I’m getting ahead of myself, on arrival at The Peer Hat there are assorted faces from the Manchester underground including several The Red Stains, who are playing upstairs tonight, XUP, Thee Windom Earles and a healthy amount of Abbatoir Blues alumni. Early reports that Girls In Synthesis wouldn’t arrive due to issues on the UK’s equally chaotic motorway system were unfounded as they load in as our first pint is served, so chaos is delayed rather after than averted.

Speaking of chaos, first up tonight is The Dirt. They open with manifesto is spat out over a discordant backing before launching into their upcoming single Ignorance Is Bliss, hypnotic bass lines with a motorik drum beat that is overlaid with an intense northern manifesto. Poetry is often touted as the new rock ‘n roll, this is not strictly the case, for The Dirt poetry is rock ‘n roll, unsettling at times, always intense and always from the heart. As ever with The Peer Hat they scrape rock ‘n roll’s underbelly and showcase the unique talents that exist far far away from the mainstream. By the end of their set the majority of basement venue is cloaked in a fog of dry ice and the venue is cast back to the days of the sweaty alternative clubs of the late 80’s I (vaguely) remember so fondly. 

After another swift visit to the bar and a return to Rat Alley (the venue’s smoking area), where Girls In Synthesis are signing vinyl, we get a welcome reunion with the kings of scuzzy dirty garage blues, Bones Shake. What can I say about these mainstays of the Mancunian underground that hasn’t been said before? The answer is not much, hellish distorted blues licks are combined with a rock solid beat with the ever present ringmaster David Brennan. This is the definition of dirty rock & roll, encompassing everything that’s worth a damn from the dawn of rock ‘n roll to the present day, always mesmerising and recently spreading their scuzzy gospel beyond the UK’s borders. Catch them in a sweaty basement near you when you get the chance, and bring your ear plugs as everything is turned up to 11.

Given the quality of the supports Girls In Synthesis being stranded on a motorway would not have been the end of the world, I might have just ended up drinking in Rat Alley, but thankfully for my liver, and everyone else present, the traffic relented. Lockdown and personal upheavals have prevented me catching them before now, but it seems that clichés do come true as the best things do come to those who wait. Skating down the by now treacherous booze laden stairs for what I thought was the start of Girls In Synthesis set, but turned out to be a soundcheck due to their late arrival, I get an adrenaline rush ahead of catching a band who have endured all of the four horsemen during their brief lifetime.

With two microphones facing each other the attention, in true post punk style, is turned inward, and a dark and stormy opener sets the tone for tonight’s set. Post punk has a tendency to dwell in the past and leach from the bands that came before, Girls In Synthesis however have rewritten the rules book. This is an urgent redux of a scene that can tend to get bogged down in its own origins. There is no posturing, this is post punk with the punk firmly to the fore, a post modern post punk if you will, but that’s too many posts for my liking. Once more the smoke machine has gone into overdrive turning everything into a reassuring haze. 

This is the future of post punk, rather than recycling the past Girls I’m Synthesis have carved their own niche In this genre. The energy from their set is this intimate venue means that everything is sticking to me, exactly as it should be me. After two stellar albums, the majority of which are covered in their set, they do not not disappoint. This is post punk that reflects the rage and anger at the current imbecilic incumbents in power, rather than echoing the rage of the past. Chaotic, intense and always furious this is a welcome reinvention of a genre that was in danger of becoming stale. Whatever you heard on their numerous recordings, live this is taken to another level. 

This is not to say the past has not been acknowledged, there are moments that recall the post punk names we are all too familiar with, but tonight this is brought into the chaotic vortex that is the UK in 2022 and reflecting every facet of anger, dissension and outright protest. Whatever the future holds for the UK, and the indicators are that it won’t be anything positive in the immediate future, this is the soundtrack for where we are right now. Girls In Synthesis are reflecting their world as it is right now, something punk has always done. I just wish the songs of discontent and rage at inequality would become irrelevant, sadly this is something I can’t see changing but we always have hope, as dark as post punk may be the difference is that the current generation has hope, without that we are lost.