I arrived just as the first band were finishing there set but I never found out who they were. Soon enough, the next band were struggling to set-up and the drummer kept asking her mum for help as she tried to work out which was which between her ride and crash cymbals?!
That sorted, this trio of very young girls who I found out from one of the mums afterwards are all 15 and 16 years old are called SKINNY GIRL DIET and they opened with the song I have had stuck in my head for almost a week now. It's called 16 and its chorus of "You may be 16 but you look about 14 even if you try to act like you're 18" riveted itself straight into my head along with the infectious Riot Grll punk they played.
They sounded like the Voodoo Queens meeting Mambo Taxi with hints of Bikini Kill and a smidgen of Bis while singing brilliantly arch teenage songs like Douche Bag. Songs that are funny and smart and should have lots of jumping around done to them. The MP is a heat seeking missile of a tune directed at the politicians seeking to tell these girls what to do.
Insomnia has some great gritty guitar work on the Danelectro being played by the girl with denim jacket adorned with Bart Simpson Jimi Hendrix patches while the drummer is doing everything she can to keep in time and just about makes it. The bassist, meanwhile, has a real ugly thrash metal style and a good scream to go with it, and her playing thumps the song along.
They do plenty to scare us all on Teenagers Attack as you wouldn't want these three chasing after you, that's for sure. They were great fun and are playing at the 12 Bar Club's Anti Folk festival in November for anyone in need of some great Riot Grrl punk.
After the break Long term Nightingales associate TED CHIPPINGTON treated us to a 15 minute set, It started with a tale of when he lived in London and he spoke over a obtuse avant jazz backing track while accosting us with his thoughts and the barbed inquiry "Are you from Birmingham?" He was quite surprised when we didn't laugh on cue and of course he was heckled about everything from Jimmy Savile to Coprophilia as that's the sort of audience we were.
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THE NIGHTINGALES then came straight on and the current line-up dove straight into the choppy as all hell rhythms and disjointed tunes these Brummies are legendary for. No matter how much I listen to the CDs of theirs I have I only really recognise about three songs all night. The first of which, Sentimental Dunce, sees Robert Lloyd seemingly arguing with himself as he sings (or should that be spits?) the lyrics at us at a rate of knots while Alan Apperley's guitar makes all sorts of odd shapes and the sounds he skitters across the room at us all night keep us on our toes.
They throw in just about the most unlikely cover of the year with a very odd version of Deeply Dippy, the old Right Said Fred hit which just adds a wonderful edge of madness in this deconstruction of the tune.
I'm pretty sure they did The Dishwater Kid and that yet again Crap Lech was a highlight of the show but I find it hard to figure out their songs among the cacophony they brew up. The fact that Robert Lloyd doesn't once talk to us all evening just added to the atmosphere while getting the loyal crowd going with them.
Anyway, a cool set, though outside Robert Lloyd didn't seem too happy about it afterwards no matter how much we all reassured him.
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