Some acts are answers to questions you hadn’t thought to ask. Take Spank Hair, for example: the answer to the question, “what if Napoleon Dynamite’s brother Kip listened to a lot of American Football records and formed a band?”
Their Bandcamp strapline, “Just another twinkly emo band”, is on point. Sure enough, the trio have a song that narrates romantic tribulations through references to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3, and frontman Luke Allmond admits to being a little taken aback when the Cardiff crowd meet his mention of their hometown, Oxford, with some jocular booing. But there’s just enough crunch and bite to stay the right side of dweeby tweemo, and putting the boot into Jeff Bezos is always going to earn approval.
Headliners Toodles & The Hectic Pity are in many respects more of the same: the sort of punk band whose merch desk features badges, zines and bumper stickers as well as vinyl, whose guitarist (Callum McAllister) pauses between songs to push his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, and who are far too well-mannered to generate anything approximating a pit.
McAllister’s electric acoustic lends the Bristolian threesome an added dimension, though, as evidenced on Every Night Is A Beautiful Night, a slip of a song about a cat, and yelpy jiggers like Ducks are always going to go down well in the city that took Los Campesinos! to its heart. “This feels like a hometown show,” McAllister beams, with some justification.
The upbeat mood is apt. This might be promoters DIY Cardiff’s last ever show, but it’s a celebration, not a wake. McAllister thanks them for putting Toodles on “in the early days, when we were shit” – a jokey comment that nevertheless speaks volumes. The likes of DIY Cardiff are among the unsung heroes of local music scenes, putting on shows (often at significant personal effort and indeed personal expense) and giving fledgling bands the opportunity to discover, develop and hone their sound as well as find a fanbase. It’s a vital role, and one that deserves greater recognition and respect.
Toodles & The Hectic Pity + Spank Hair, Clwb Ifor Bach, Cardiff, Sat 16 May
words and photos BEN WOOLHEAD
