On Wednesday the 15th November in North London, down Holloway Road, lies Nambucca. A venue frequented in the past by the likes of Frank Turner, Kaiser Chiefs and Wolf Alice. Tonight, The Moshville Times are here to see a two-piece blues rock band who’ve come all the way from Seattle, Washington. The Grizzled Mighty are here.
These two musicians have been on my radar since releasing their first record Closed Knuckle Jaw. There’s a special something in these musicians coming out of Seattle, maybe it’s my euphoric recall of bands from the past. But the truth is there’s something in their water or in their coffee if you will.
Brighton’s Sit Down are on stage upon arrival. The drummer has “Earth Sucks” emblazoned across her t-shirt and the guitarist wears silver spaceman tros. The two smash their way through a remarkable enjoyable set.
Next on stage, Effral Social, a gang of five who make audience participation a wonderful sight. Handing out ping pong balls at the start… that question will be answered as the evening carries on. They bring up a couple on stage for a little competition to see who can say “Should” the longest, during a cover of Fatboy Slim’s “Praise You”. Back to the ping pong balls (these guys obviously never realised about my table tennis tournament winning performance at the age of eleven) – they were to see how many people can get their ping pong balls into a cup. Anyway, Effral Social provide this enjoyable experience that included a superb cover of “Let’s Dance”.
Headliners from Seattle, Washington are on a stop off before travelling the rest of Europe for a short tour. London is a place they’ve wanted to play for some time and tonight they’re here and so are we. Ryan and Faustine are suffering with jetlag, but still kindly chatted with us earlier in the evening.
Their gig proves what a livener music is, as the two power a sound that Nambucca allows to engulf them, envelope a feeling of “what the hell am I witnessing?”
Grizzled Mighty own Nambucca tonight and Ryan Granger as Faustine Hudson penetrate our ears with hard rock tracks from latest record Crooked Little Finger and debut Closed Knuckle Jaw. Opening their set with “Cabin Fever” is the beginning of these two entering a ferocious, non-stop cocoon of music.
After a few tunes the crowd see they’re witnessing something they never expected. A look of awe on many faces, especially when Ryan walks from the stage mid-song into the crowd crunching those riffs. This is the moment I hear behind me “These guys should have a bigger audience, they are sooo damn good.” A few rock sex expressions by of the audience coincides with the riffs and continuous drumming.
Grizzled Might power through “No Flows”, “Chantael”, “Work Me Slow” and one of my favourites “Miles of Cocaine”.
It’s a shame there aren’t many people here to see them perform their true class. But the truth is, I am. And that is all that matters.
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