The early show begins with The Legend!, featuring local one Everett True. He is later acknowledged in The Lovely Eggs’ song, ‘I’m a Journalist’. It is true he is better known for his writing and for introducing Kurt Cobain to Courtney Love than for his onstage pleas, insistently repeating “I want to feel like John Peel” while Godspeed You! Black Emperor style droning swells insidiously from strings. A stark contrast to what’s to come.
Jimmy And The Worn Out Shoes are the next to take to the stage at Patterns, the singer dressed as a cross between Dennis the Menace and a butcher. Thankfully they are a lot less terrifying than that suggests, telling us from the offset, “It’ll be alright”, attempting to placate with humorous, earnest folk harmonies.
When Holly Ross and David Blackwell appear to what is now a packed room, it is with their support in tow (a forest of cider cans). Pausing between songs to swig and share anecdotes with the crowd, the old cliché rings true: they feel like a band you could happily go for a drink with. Only they might turn it into a song about walking around the streets late at night trying to find a house party.
Nearing the end of a UK tour in celebration of a decade together as a band, Ross’s voice shows signs of cracking here and there, but the throatiness adds to the air of warmth, good humour, and familiarity the band inspire. Blackwell is a solid drummer, occasionally pausing to tighten bits of kit following the frenetic outbursts demanded by the more raucous tracks. With their garage rock DIY approach, they feel like our White Stripes, albeit with more certainty about the nature of their relationship.
Newer material from last year’s release, ‘This Is Our Nowhere’, contains elements of thrashy fuzz, psych rock, Teenage Fanclub-style riffage, further experimentation with distortion, coupled with 60s-era pop melodies. However, thematically they still sing of the everyday, of loving their son, of food and music, rather than smashing up hotel rooms. SOURCE expects next time round they’ll be delivering songs about babysitters, traffic jams, and being in bed at a sensible hour.
The crowd respond enthusiastically throughout, all broad smiles and pogoing. The Lovely Eggs finish with fan favourite (one audience member even dressed as John Shuttleworth, the comedian who appeared in the accompanying video), ‘Don’t Look At Me (I Don’t Like It)’. There is no encore, because thems the rules.
Childlike delight blending into the deadpan, Ross intones, “We think we’d like to live here. Sometimes.”
We would welcome you back. Every time.
Patterns, Saturday 30th April 2016
Words by Karen McDermott
