August 2014 – Quiffed Owl

The sign of things to come is symbolised in the headlining of the Club NME show in London’s notorious Koko.

When an artist has only a handful of live performances but demand such notoriety and respect, the only interpretation can be that the path to success is clearing for NIGHTS.

Success is relative. The beauty of music is that the purist, those who count, judge success by the final output; the art, the sound. In a world of MTV, novelty pop and accessory festivals, the concept of success should not be measured in coverage, hype or sales.

No album has been released under the ‘NIGHTS’ brand but it matters not. Those who have experienced the new live set and the abundance of new material are fully aware of the imminent impact that ‘NIGHTS’ music will have. They will support Erasure on a British tour from November in some of the UK’s grandest theatres.

Camden’s Koko can look forward to celebrating in ‘NIGHTS’ refreshingly evocative direction. A confidence such as theirs gives birth to a certainty in a bands song writing. To add to the well known ‘Youngsters’ and ‘Flavours’, creativity is free flowing and stirring exciting new pieces such as ‘Searching (Won’t be leaving)’ and ‘Charles’, both baring NIGHTS signature style but the speed at which they have been constructed and perfected is no less than clinical.

The results are not prolific for the sake of being so. Arguably, the quality is of a standard beyond what has preceded it, they are growing creatively efficient in their execution of exactly what they want to stand for.

On August the 8th a new audience will sit up and pay attention to a band so comfortable with themselves that the music is bound to grab hold of people and shake the scene into embracing NIGHTS.

Who knows what will follow? It really boils down to the fact that the measure of their success should be in the quality of the music they produce rather than the attention they are likely to obtain. Those who make it to Koko will see that this is a band who are serious but who we will seriously enjoy.

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// NIGHTS // CLUB NME // KOKO – 8/8/14 //

The first chord I heard from LUVV ensured that was exactly how I would feel towards them. LUVV demonstrate all that is infectious with working class, guitar driven rock over the last few years. This Cardiff/Newport outfit could just be at the forefront of what Britain and certainly Wales have to say in the remerging movement of post punk.

LUVV have just completed and made available their second tape for our consumption in double quick time. Their creative momentum represents the ease at which they are finding the development, formation and execution of their collective ideas and at such a prolific pace.

LUVV scream of organized chaos, this seemingly chaotic approach gives an impression of raw unruly aggression that mirrors the disdainful lyrics that singer Matt Short shrieks through the maddening air. The vocal message is a genuine cry from the heart and from some dark, distant room in the basement of Bedlam. His voice is drowning in a sea of clashing guitars and waves of emotion that smash against the high cliffs of distortion. The good ship – LUVV is navigated by Richard Clarke’s gloriously grounded drumming that are in synch with Mainwaring’s deep bass, together leading LUVV across the rolling swell.

Lead guitar is under Sam Hunts spell as he picks up each song like a tornado and sucks everything up to the stratosphere, where the debris of riffs, the barrage of bass and unyielding drums are tossed around on the soaring clouds of Hunts heavenly notes.

In the recent renaissance of post punk bands like Cloud Nothings, Eagulls and Protomatyr; LUVV’s thoughtful approach and intelligent song construction makes the teeth gritting, foot stomping posturing possible. They present their version of rock music with an all out desire to express the strengths they are in possession of. This isn’t an imitation of anything that’s gone before but within a cluttered sub culture such as this, it is no mean feet.

LUVV are not the finished article. They are unpolished and unclean, but who the hell wants them to be anything other? Listening to them must be like how it was when the first ear pricked up to The Fall’s early recordings or to Wire’s demo’s. The gut grasping energy and angst evoke pure excitement at, not just what LUVV can achieve but for what their next work will sound like.

I joined LUVV on a road trip from gig to gig and city to city in the very early days of their existence. A friday night in Newport on March 28th saw LUVV attack a full Le Pub before Friday drifted into Saturday afternoon and a boozy van ride to Manchester. ‘The Star and Garter’ in the cities red lights district fittingly hosted the debauched noise bombardment the band bestow.

LUVV imposed themselves immediately on an abnormally high stage. They are an enthralling live band in that they sell their sound with a humility and authenticity that encapsulates their passion in what they are producing at a pounding pace. Short bounces around like a satanic hand puppet hypnotizing with his possessed demeanor and magnetic presence. Like the noise that levitates out of Hunt’s guitar, he instantly joins the same chords on a platform high above earth, synchronizing claps of thunder and bolts of electricity precipitating through each song LUVV relentlessly glide through.

LUVV give it all to the show but the show is the bi-product of the music and that is what counts to this band. That is clear from the perspiring, focussed figures silhouetted against a blinding white backdrop. A vision of white hot halo’s erupting from behind the men that serve darkness on a conveyor belt set for hell.

LUVV are held in high esteem amongst their contemporaries . They have supported Chain of Flowers, White Lung and Twisted. Glowing reports have followed from band and new found fan alike. The only justice you can do is to find the true LUVV.