Tonight’s gig is part of the Social’s “The Deep Hum of Everything” event, which now seems to be becoming a permanent fixture. The basic premise is that you get three bands for £3, which is not to be sniffed at.

We start off with Lupo, who are basically purveying English psychedelia circa 1966/67. The harmonies are lush, the guitar is spiky and the bass lines are Paul McCartney melodic. There are harder early Zep-style riffs too. However, despite the all-original material, they are so in thrall to their influences as to almost be a tribute band. They need to add something else to their stew in order to emphasise their originality.

The meat in tonight’s sandwich is provided by Love l.u.v.  Unfortunately they are beset with sound problems from the start as the soundman seems to have problems with anything larger than a three-piece (Love l.u.v have five members). The lead vocals are inaudible for the first song, and the keyboards are inaudible until the last song.

No matter. Love l.u.v effortlessly clear these hurdles with their blend of classic 60s pop and late 70s powerpop. There’s a definite Nuggets influence with the odd hint of psychedelia on occasion. I bet that they’ve heard some Bevis Frond records. However, late 70s New wave seems to be their biggest influence. With Lily Ann they almost redefine the term ‘driving riff’ and crash chords abound.

In a nutshell, they are the bastard children of Blondie and the Ramones. Go see.

Headliners The Abjects are the least musically proficient of tonight’s bands, but are clearly very much in touch with the spirit of punk, without being a ‘punk’ band as such. They deliver short, sharp gems which with their dreamy vocals against a muscular backing are reminiscent of Throwing Muses, but with less gravitas. Fun, essentially.

Mark Kelly

Links

Lupo

Online: https://soundcloud.com/lupowilleatyou
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lupowilleatyou
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/LUPOWILLEATYOU

Love L.U.V.

Online: http://loveluvband.bandcamp.com/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/loveluvband
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/LoveLUVband
On You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/user/LoveLUVband (autostarts song / video of You Do Something)

The Abjects

Online: http://abjects.bandcamp.com/
On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Abjectsband
On Twitter: https://twitter.com/abjectsband