Gig Review: Here's One I Made Earlier

Wavves, Brighton Audio, 17th November 2009

A colleague declared that Wavves make a horrible noise. She might be right. Their latest album is blindingly bad, but their debut had an edge to admire. Was it worth £8 to find out? Yes, it was.

I would have happily skipped support Teen Sheikhs. Horrible noise = tick.

Wavves Brighton Audio set was fantastic. It was also awful. It was fantastically awful. Totalling twenty-five minutes, including much onstage banter about which songs they could actually play, the set was eight times as long as the time we waited for it, and a delight.

I stood before them, with an inner smile, throughout. For two out of the three band members it was their second Wavves show, after one practice ever. Drummer, Zach Hill, had broken his arm, and Jay Reatards former band mates stepped up. Fair play. I admire their balls.

Wavves may have been ramshackle, but they were much better than one might imagine. The drummer, Billy Hayes, was damn tight, maintained a fast pace and used his bash cans well. The bass guitarist took his lead, and well, Nathan Williams was so open and honest about the general disarray, it was charming. He rocked out in the way that makes him unique and special. So what if the music lacked cohesion. Unity came in the form of three lads giving it their best under adverse circumstances. They made a ramshackle row, but it sparkled.

The show must go on and, in a rough and ready way, it did. Requests were taken and played, perhaps not perfectly, but...

... Wavves did their best. Some bands don’t even try.

On my way out, a disgruntled punter was begging for a refund, ‘But, I came to see Zach Hill’. Why didn’t he ask for a refund twenty-five minutes before? He watched the band throughout, because on a night of no rules, you never can tell.

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Download MP3: Wavves - Wavves (courtesy of thefader)