The Dublin formed, and starkly girlless, Girl Band began life in 2011 as teenage sub Nirvana knock offs that made a merry racket without breaking any new ground. Experience, maturity and, in the case of singer Dara Kiely, mental health issues have seen the Girl Band sound develop into a rending and guttural sledgehammer blast of red raw energy. 2015’s ‘Holding Hands With Jamie’ album borders on actual scary with Kiely’s rasping vocals recalling the fug of his breakdown over Alan Duggan’s ferocious riffs. This will be the boys first time in Birmingham after cancelling a show earlier in the year for health reasons. We Can’t wait. Never has a band name eschewed expectation as much as theirs. Now if you’ll excuse us we need to plug into the extreme feedback dissonance of ‘Why They Hide Their Bodies Under My Garage’ and scream a bit.
Directed and produced by Bob Gallagher (bobfilmsthings.com) Pre-order ‘Pears For Lunch’ on etched 7″ vinyl with handfolded and numbered sleeve – http://smarturl.it/orderPearsForLunch (Limited to 1000 worldwide)SOLD OUT ‘Pears For Lunch’ is taken from their debut album ‘Holding Hands With Jamie’ is released on Rough Trade Records on September 25th 2015.
Sun 22 Jan 7.30pm at Hare and Hounds, High Street, Kings Heath, Birmingham B14 7JZ £10 hareandhoundskingsheath
Words: Giles Logan
Published on: Sun 1 Jan 2017