Ordinarily, little tiny pub gigs don’t receive coverage on national websites unless it’s some big name playing a low-key warm-up or somesuch special event. And that’s fair, you may think: where’s the national interest in small local gigs? But perhaps that’s the problem when it comes to bands to more often than not play wherever’s local to them breaking out of that small fan catchment. Moreover, aren’t those tiny gigs the lifeblood of live music, the real grass roots of musical appreciation? This goes doubly for folk music, so with York-based (anti)-folk duo Bored Housewife playing one small pub venue on the same night it was announced the city would be losing one of its most vibrant and forward-thinking pub venues, it seemed somehow right to record the event.
In the intimate setting of the Golden Ball (a co-operative run pub in the city’s hip South Bank area), Justin and Meabh, accompanied by Rob and Ed Harrington pack into a tight corner of the main room, leading Justin to comment on the smallest PA they’ve ever played through. It’s still big enough, and they’ve drawn a decent crowd (the room’s looking busy past double figures, and we’re well past that once the set gets going).
As much as they’re here to plug their new EP, ‘The Bin Hoaker Chronicles’ and to give some older songs an airing, Bored Housewife are also eager to try out some new material. Characteristically combining a wide-ranging pessimism at the state of the world, mass media, relationships, work and the ageing process, their short songs are snappy, witty and bleakly funny. Best of all was the interaction between band and audience, with Justin providing an abundance of banter, introducing each song as ‘a love song’ and sometimes taking almost as long to explain the titles and the songs as to play them. The intra-band bickering is also highky comedic: it might not be the slickets of performances in places, but it's real, unpretentious and engaging. Above all, it's fun. You just don’t get band / audience chatter of the sort at bigger gigs, and the bigger the gig, the more of the proximity between artist and audience is lost.
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Bored Housewife have some great tunes with some hilarious, cutting and outright dark lyrics, and deserve wider attention – but at the same time, one rather hopes they continue playing little shows like this, because they’re something special: your local bands and local pub venues need YOU!
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