Bug Club
This Welsh indie duo made a welcome return to the Norwich Arts Centre hot on the back of their latest album Every Single Muscle.
Rock n roll, blues, grunge, punk and dual vocals full of wit and vigour is a heady mix that has propelled Welsh duo The Bug Club through five albums in as many years. They returned to the Arts Centre for a rip roaring set of their latest tunes and old favourites days after their fifth album dropped.
Those who arrived early were eased in gently with Cardiff-based five-piece Casual Smart. Their opening number meandered gently to be lifted by a harmonica solo by one of two guitarists who also shared vocal duties along with keyboardist and frontman Peter. The dreamy indie pop numbers were lifted at times by Peter’s keyboard playing that swelled in cinematic instrumental breaks. A saxophone added a jazzy edge but remained a background element. A solo or two would have given the set an extra boost.
The band have released a handful of songs over the last couple of years. They have three strong vocalists and command of a plethora of instruments. It feels like they are still finding their sound but there were some beautiful moments in their short set. The group spoke warmly of their first visit to Norwich with highlights including Taco Bell and buying a postcard of a cat!
The Bug Club’s Sam Willett and Tilly Harris came romping on stage with explosive Semi-Automatic from their latest album. Drummer Dafydd kept time admirably with the tricky riffs and vocals bouncing back and forth across the stage like a wild game of verbal tennis, the duo’s voices never going out of play but blending with clumsy perfection.
The opener was swiftly followed by crowd pleasers Quality Pints, which should be CAMRA’s official anthem, and Marriage which does the peculiar Bug Club trick of constantly tripping over itself while rolling on without missing a beat.
From simple ingredients the trio produce a deceptively nuanced sound. They started as a blues outfit and that remains a strong component but there is a whole A-Z of other guitar styles weaving in and out. From the grungy A Bit Like James Bond to the classic rock riff driven Cheap Linen and the semi spoken It’s Our Manager David with Sam’s guitar ringing like a telephone, both musicians and audience were kept on their toes.
At times the three musicians seemed in such a rush to power through the 22-song setlist that all the instruments and voices blurred into one noisy maelstrom. Album title track Every Single Muscle packs an impressive number of muscle names into a heavy rock chorus while quieter refrains offered fleeting moments of calm before the next burst of distortion. Shiny and Wet, another new one, comes at a slower tempo with a menacing Black Sabbath flavour. It gave the different musical elements space to breathe and included a technically superb bluesy solo by Sam performed out of dignity or budget constraints without lasers or pyrotechnics!
Make it Count made full use of Sam and Tilly’s vocal range as they alternated lines an octave or two apart. During Best Looking Strangers in the Cemetery Sam appeared to attempt some Jimi Hendrix style guitar playing with his teeth but instead placed a harmonica on the strings for an experimental solo. Even Good Day for Dying had enough gusto to banish any morbid thoughts.
After a jam packed set the band delved deeper into their back catalogue for an encore of the relatively sedate Out in the Streets followed by The Intelectuals (sic) - the perfect vehicle for the band to pull out the stops doing all the things they do best: Jump, sing and shout over funky bass lines and break neck solos making three sound like a crowd as big and jubilant as the one stood before them.
