Live Review: Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Electric Brixton, London 01/09/2022
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets take centre stage at Electric Brixton, for the latest performance in their tour spanning August and September, joined by Home Counties and English Teacher.
Many consider psychedelic rock to be one of the greatest musical exports from Australia, with artists such as Pond, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard, and Tame Impala emerging from the far-off land; The comically named Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, are claiming their stakes in the matter. Describing themselves as, “an energetic mess of colour and tone” with little reasoning behind the name… Besides it being amusing.
Formed in Perth in 2014, the band is made up of Jack McEwan (English guitarist and singer), Luke Parish (guitarist), Danny Caddy (drummer), Wayan Billondana (bassist), and Chris Young (keyboardist). The tone for the night was set by their dramatic entrance - strobe lights and a crescendoing build, Jack McEwan triumphantly made his way on stage wearing an Acid Dad top.
London seemed to be the theme for the night, as Jack expressed his gratitude for the crowd, their support, and mused about his long-lived dreams of making it to venues such as Electric Brixton. Standing in the crowd, it was easy to understand why - the Edwardian neoclassical building originally began its span of conquests as the Palladium Picture Playhouse, The Regal, the ABC, the ACE, and most popularly known, The Fridge. The 1,500 capacity venue only became Electric Brixton in September 2011, and has since hosted names such as Men I Trust, Macky Gee, The Chats, and Rejjie Snow… All just this year.
As the crowd filtered in, the lights lit up the Baroque building in neon-flitting plumes of purple and orange. Smooth sips of Red-Stripe cans held in ring-clad hands were swallowed as the first support came on - Home Counties.
The Bristol-based band composed of Will Harrison, Conor Kearney, Barn Peiser Pepin, Sam Woodroffe and Dan Hearn, did not disappoint. With socially-charged, unbroken satirical lyricism seemingly being their niche, they went all out for their last show on tour with Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. Their upbeat and playful post-punk tunes pick at the classical English village mentality, the narrow-mindedness of it, and express their concerns about a dog-eat-dog Tory Britain.
“Back to The 70’s”, a track from their 2022 EP, “In A Middle English Town” was a crowd-pleaser full of youthful angst, a cleverly-used wooden agogo, and deliciously Declan McKenna-style vocals. The chorus felt especially poignant given the current climate, as they belted, “Come on and hit me with tax in double figures, double figures / And let the country collapse into pieces, into pieces / You make me wanna go back to the 1970s / You make me wanna go back /To the.”
The lights brightened, and a short intermission ensued before the second support act emerged - Leeds quartet, English Teacher.
Blending a mix of the UK’S booming post-punk scene (although they insist they are not a post-punk band), and soulful songwriting, founder Lily Fontaine (vocals, rhythm guitar, synth), was joined by Douglas Frost (drums), Nicholas Eden (bass) and Lewis Whiting (lead guitar, synth).
A quieter affair, they acted as a bridge between Home Counties and Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. Lily gave an astounding performance, with special mention of their newest tracks, “Mental Maths” from their 2022 EP, “Polyawkward”.
“Yorkshire Tapas”, the song that is defined as a blend of music and spoken word poetry, left the crowd in a quiet stupor, as they ended on “Good Grief”.
Another intermission, this time longer, until the Crumpets themselves stepped out, “How are we doing, London? It’s mad to think we’d be playing here, mad, thank you for being a part of our history!” Jack shouted.
The strobe lights stuttered over the jam-packed crowds, as pints flew, and mosh-pits opened for the band who gained inspiration from the classic rock icons of the 60’s and 70’s, such as Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath. As guitarists engaged in a serious show of headbangs, even combining their hair-whipping power together at various stages, and coming up for air with wide smiles.
The setlist for the night was as follows: Tally-Ho, Bill’s Mandolin, Lava Lamp Pisco, Mundungus, The Tale of Gurney Gridman, Found God in a Tomato, November, Mr. Prism, Acid Dent, Hymn for a Droid, Keen for Kick Ons, with an encore of Cornflake, encouraged by the classic chant, “one more song!”
During all of this, a small toy animal sat centre stage with a microphone poised over its small form. This was largely ignored until Jack coyly mentioned finding the toy at a petrol station outside of Hamburg, and questioning if the plastic toy was sentient.
A night full of energy, three great bands, and anticipation for where the rising stars will take it next - besides Norwich, Manchester, Paris, Antwerp, Groningen, Nijegen, Asten, and Maastricht on the 2022 tour. Definitely a lot to watch out for here.
Words by Jemma Lavine
Photography by Sam Strutt
