Manchester Punk Festival Releases 37th Compilation
Manchester Punk Festival have released the 37th volume of their compilation series ahead of this year’s festival. Manchester Punk Festival Vol. 37 is…
Deaf Institute, Manchester, UK - 14th September 2016
The Deaf Institute remains one my favourite venues in Manchester, they attract an eclectic range of acts and they support local bands, the staff are friendly, the beer is excellent and it still has one of Manchester’s finest smoking areas that means I don’t have to walk down two flights of steps in between bands, it also serves as an outdoor balcony for some welcome relief from the heat that builds up in the small Music Hall on the top floor of the venue. Tonight The Deaf Institute is playing host to Philadelphia’s Nothing on their first foray into the UK and Europe. Nothing even made time to visit parts of Manchester that have become synonymous with some the city’s most celebrated bands, as evidenced by the their visit to the Salford Lads Club, that was immortalised by The Smiths, that Nothing posted on the social media.
First up is local band Patty Hearst, I arrive part way through their set due to driving round the venue for twenty minutes looking for a parking space. Thankfully I hear enough to know I’ve discovered another promising local band. Patty Hearst play a mix of punk rock and indie rock, and to my ear there’s a touch of post hardcore in the mix as well, their sound is somewhat at odds with the eclectic image of the band but appearances are very deceptive in the case of Patty Hearst. They play with passion and intensity despite the five members being squeezed onto the Deaf Institute Stage. Whilst I only caught a few songs by them they certainly made an impression on me, and also on the crowd who had attended early enough to catch the support act.
If the Deaf Institute isn’t sold out tonight it’s damn close to it, and the unseasonably warm and humid September evening has transformed the venue into the equivalent of a noisy sauna. Before the gig I notice that Nothing are happily mingling with the audience, something I always like to see. A dark piano piece replaces the music and indicates that the arrival of Nothing is imminent and as they take the stage the Piano fades into a squall of white noise. The unassuming quartet break into a dark and intense opening number before they up the tempo with a track that hints at their punk origins.
Regardless of the temperature they play a bass heavy and intense sound that juxtaposes the laid back harmonic vocals, their conversations with the audience are similarly laid back and unassuming, they remind me of the dialogue from the classic stoner movie The Big Lebowski. They share tales of their night out in Glasgow the previous evening, which seemed to involve a admirable level of excess and hedonism and ended in the hospitalisation of one of the members, thankfully they were able to make it to Manchester intact but the previous nights antics might explain their speech patterns as none of us are at out most coherent after a serious night out.
Their punk attitude is crossed with 90’s grunge and laidback indie which creates an glorious hybrid where the vocal drawl is perfectly matched against the intense heavy music and the soaring guitar parts. Nothing appear to have cherry picked some of the finest sounds from the last three decades to create a sound that simultaneously manages to be angry, intense and yet laid back . Sometimes there is a joy in going to a concert where you have no prior knowledge of any of the bands that are playing, you enter with a blank slate and approach the gig with no preconceptions, both of tonight’s bands were new to me, but I’m glad that is no longer the case and I intend to acquaint myself with their back catalogues on the strength of tonight’s show.
This is Nothing‘s first European tour and on the basis of tonight I recommend catching them before they return to the USA
Patty Hearst‘s Bandcamp can be found here and their Facebook page is here
You can order Nothing‘s latest album, Tired Of Tomorrow, from Relapse Records here
Nothing‘s European tour dates can be found here