Wolves fest Manchester

I went to a gig last night as part of the "Wolves" festival put on by Hairy Wolf Records in various towns across the north. There were a bunch of bands on the bill, but we skipped in late and only caught the last two.



The first band we saw were called Brontide. Their skinny jeans-and-quiff atire betrayed their fondness for a crashing doom power chord, and a looper pedal was used artfully to build up finger-tapped riffs. Somewhere between the technical chops of math and the brute force of metal (but with no vocals), I enjoyed their set a lot, and was surprised to learn the drummer is also in La Roux.



But the main attraction was Kong, who came recommended by various people on the Manchester music scene. Dressed all in red and wearing those creepy see-through plastic masks that are most suited to bank robbery or twisted sex, there's more than a whiff of peak-90s Sub Pop about them. Guitars squall like Tad, vocals roar like a pre-success Cobain, and the drums get a merciless pounding by the ridiculously awesome drummer. A bit like the Jesus Lizard if they were fronted by Peter Kaye on bad acid, Kong aren't shy of showing off their Chorley roots. even if it leads to audience misunderstandings and a generally unhinged atmosphere. But it's worth it, these guys are very good live.

They are coming to Glasgow in a few weeks (August 12th at the Captain's Rest) - I recommend folk go and check 'em out.