Christopher Nosnibor
Since Fork, who had originally been advertised as the main support act, have disappeared from the bill, Fat Spatula are the sole utensil-themed band playing here tonight. Being the night before Halloween, they’ve gone for fancy dress, but without any obvious theme, meaning they look even more disparate than usual. Drummer Jamie presents as a ghoulish Rasputin figure in a monk’s cowl and corpse paint. Bassist Andy Precious, lurching and twirling centre stage, is sporting a boiler suit and steam punk goggles which soon depart his face, and I’ve no idea what singer / guitarist Nick Wolterman has come as. It transpires that the special guest they’ve been touting is Bull’s Tom Beer on rhythm guitar. He’s really giving it some, and plays most of the set without a top E. As always, there’s something mildly chaotic about their performance, but with their brand of slacker alt-rock, it actually works as a style of presentation. The set is built around their 2022 album, Microwave Minutes, with short, snappy tunes across a range of styles: ‘Chicka Chicka’ is a bit funky, ‘Skulls’ is a bit country, and the verses of ‘Love Happens Naturally’ call to mind REM’s ‘It’s the End of the World As We Know It’. As always, they’re good fun.
Fat Spatula
Damage Control are quite the contrast, with a heads-down blast of straight-up unreconstituted thrashpunkmetal. Some bands wear their influences on their sleeves: these guys wear them simply on their T-shirts. Sgt Steel (bass / vocals) is wearing a Mötörhead shirt, and judging by his playing style and posture, he’s been possessed by the spirit of Lemmy. Capn’ Fent (drums, vocals) is sporting a mclusky T, while I can’t quite make out guitarist The Wizard’s logo, because it’s largely obscured by a flailing flurry of hair being shaken all over as he blasts out chords on his Flying V at a blurring pace. They stick closely to the punk-edged speed metal template of Mötörhead for the duration of their set, playing every song loud, hard, and fast. They’re seriously tight and their sound is powerful, and meaty.
Damage Control
ATKRTV are one of a recent crop of bands founded in York who have gone on to relocate in order to make a go of it, and like Bitchcraft (who have also moved to London) and Teleost (now based in Glasgow), a return to their roots after only a short time evidences a huge developmental leap. Less than a year ago, they were the opening band on a lineup in this very same venue, and while showing clear promise, were a bit rough around the edges, and their grunge / noise-rock / math / jazz hybrid was still in a state of evolution. Ideally, evolution is a continual process, rather than something which takes place prior to reaching a specific end point, and that’s precisely what their debut EP, Pilot, released in September is. As they put it, ‘Like a pilot episode, this EP worked as a testing ground for different musical directions, a snapshot of what we’ve enjoyed playing over the last three years’. They also describe themselves as ‘a post-hardcore band writing frenetic songs born from technological angst’. The first four songs land back-to-back, short and pacey, the fusion of math, jazz, and hardcore landing in a space that’s not a million miles away from Fugazi at times.
ATKRTV
These EP songs are longer and more complex, with movements and segments and tempo changes. The third of the EP’s tracks, ‘Attacker TV’ is noticeably slower, heavier, and more atmospheric, while the EP’s driving, high-octane last track, ‘Dial a Vow’ hits hard with its choppy chords and strains of feedback. And then they’re diving headlong into the fast and furious attacking numbers again, and I’m often reminded of …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead. Calls for an encore are met with heavy grinder ‘Garage Flower’, as yet unreleased – which is in fact true of most of their material. It showcases yet another facet of their sound, and it’s one which suits them.
ATKRTV
During the set, Max (guitar / vocals) makes several forays into the audience, on one occasion winding up thrashing away on his back. They still have every ounce of the energy they had previously, but they’ve learned how to harness it, to channel it into more precise playing, and they’ve grown in confidence, too. Put simply, they’ve come a long way in a short time.
