The Horrors, Crocodiles & Ouija Radio @ Turf Club

[Ouija Radio]

The Turf Club hosted a great triple bill of music on Saturday night, as local band Ouija Radio, San Diego’s Crocodiles, and Southend, England’s the Horrors treated zombies and non-zombies alike (the show coincided with the zombie pub crawl) to an intense and potent blend of music and style. At times the stage seemed too small to contain all the musicians and their equipment, and the room seemed too small to contain the massive squalls of sound that the bands were generating all night, but that compact arrangement lent itself well to an intimate, engaging show from the varied bands who each had it in high gear all evening.

[Ouija Radio]

Unfortunately I was only able to catch the last four or five songs of Ouija Radio’s upbeat, propulsive set, which featured a few new songs (to me at least) and a more danceable nature to their sound than I remember. The group had a nice blend of both keyboard based and guitar driven songs, as well as some straight up dance tracks. I think the band really was set on getting the crowd to dance a bit, with front woman Christy Hunt telling the crowd she was really excited to be playing with these bands, and “couldn’t wait to dance out in the crowd with you later.” Their set reflected that desire, with the bouncy, vibrant new track “Bang The Fave Raver” really energizing the crowd. They also dug a bit into their extensive back catalog and played some classic, guitar driven tracks that slayed as well. I think that most of the audience was just really happy to see Ouija Radio live again, and hopefully the band starts playing live on a more frequent basis. It was an entertaining set that I wish I would’ve caught the entirety of, and it really got the night off to a good start and certainly set the audience up well for the next two bands.

[Ouija Radio]

[Ouija Radio]

[Crocodiles]

Crocodiles were up next, and after the band meticulously draped the California state flag over some of their equipment and brought out muted red mood lighting, they began their ferocious set. The band, who are now performing as a four-piece instead of the two-piece arrangement they had when they opened for Holy Fuck at the Entry back in June, really brought an intensity and an attitude on stage that isn’t displayed enough on their album, and that added potency really helped their songs come alive. After an extended, moody feedback laden introduction from guitarist Charles Rowland, lead singer Brandon Welchez sauntered on stage and the band wasted no time tearing into a fiery version of “Refuse Angels” from their excellent debut Summer Of Hate. They switched the tempo up a bit with the ’50s sounding doo-wop style of “Hollow Eyes,” and really slowed things down with a simmering rendition of “Summer Of Hate” that featured Welchez adding his own guitar sound to the building wall of fuzz.

[Crocodiles]

[Crocodiles]

The band then played what I believe to be a new song called “Long Distance Lovers,” which was quite spirited, before tearing into “Neon Jesus,” which not only got the crowd dancing quite a bit, but really found the band locking into a tight sound which was intentionally quite loose throughout the rest of the set. From that point on the set really took off, with “Soft Skull (In My Room)” and set closer “I Wanna Kill” really enlivening the crowd, especially when Welchez jumped off the stage to pogo along with the audience. Rowland and Welchez remained crouched on stage, layering the feedback over the audience long after the others left the stage, leaving our ears ringing in a way that only a blazing, raucous set can. Crocodiles set barely lasted a half hour, and featured only seven songs, but it burned with an intensity and a fervency that really couldn’t be kept up for much longer. The band certainly had a cocksure attitude and plenty of spunk to spare, which really imbued their live set with an extra bite that the songs on Summer Of Hate only hints at. It was a wild performance that really kept the strong momentum of the night going leading up to the headliners.

[Crocodiles]

[Crocodiles]

[Crocodiles]

[The Horrors]

The lights at the Turf Club were again darkened to set the mood for the sinister sounds of the Horrors, who came on stage as a four-piece for the extended introduction to set opener “Mirror’s Image,” creating a bit of an ominous atmosphere in the club before frontman Faris Badwan joined the band as the song really kicked in. The band’s immense sound pierced the small room, and Badwan’s penetrating vocals were able to soar over the discord. The band transitioned seamlessly into the driving beat of “Three Decades,” with the screeching feedback of guitarist Joshua Third ringing over the buried melody and Badwan gesturing wildly while imploring the audience that “this is your hour.” The title track from the band’s excellent new record Primary Colours was up next, and again was dominated by the wall of feedback laden guitar that Third was producing, as well as the ambient, understated keyboards of Tomethy Furse and the steady bass line of Rhys Webb. The band had a massive sound and a level of confidence that was much bigger than the tiny Turf Club, and I think all in attendance knew that we were quite lucky to see this Mercury Prize nominated band at such an intimate venue.

[The Horrors]

[The Horrors]

[The Horrors]

The set chugged on, without the band bothering to exchange bland pleasantries with the crowd, instead letting their moody music do all of their talking. As Third tore into the explosive guitar riff of “Do You Remember,” the set really started to take off, with Badwan’s morose vocals rising above the din. It was a dynamic highpoint of the set, and the band really didn’t slow down from that point on, speeding right into the building cacophony of “New Ice Age,” led by the driving drums of Joseph Spurgeon and the fiendish vocals of Badwan. It’s a fierce song that really conveyed the raw intensity of London’s dark club scene to the audience. Webb’s hypnotic bass line again combined with Furse’s entrancing keyboards on the dynamic “Scarlett Fields,” which slowed the set down just a bit but still managed to add to the mercurial nature of the set. The band really slowed the tempo down with the brooding drone of “I Only Think Of You,” which is much more volatile live than on the record due to the thrashy feedback of Third’s guitar and Badwan’s impassioned vocals.

[The Horrors]

[The Horrors]

[The Horrors]

The tempo picked back up on the roiling “I Can’t Control Myself,” which seemed to find every member of the band losing themselves entirely in the squall of sound enveloping everyone in the audience. The Horrors sound imparts such a sullen but vibrant mood, and that spirit comes through in such an unfiltered way through their live show. It certainly helps having the musicians just a few feet away from you while they’re performing, so the intimacy clearly lends itself well to the roguish atmosphere, but still, their songs have an urgent, vital feel to them that is only augmented through their penetrating performance. “Who Can Say” was blindingly intense, with Third’s guitar grinding the melody out along with Furse’s keyboards. And Badwan really carried the spoken word off well during the song’s breakdown, leading the song to its explosive finish. “Sea Within A Sea” closed out the main set, and was really soaring along nicely until Badwan’s vocals cut out at the end. The band dutifully played out the song, with Badwan shouting out his vocals which went unheard amidst the din of the song. A new microphone was brought on stage, and the band picked right up where Badwan was cut off, delivering the stirring conclusion of the song for the second time, while losing none of the track’s intensity in the process.

[The Horrors]

[The Horrors]

After a short break, the band came out for their raucous encore, wasting little time before breaking into a cover of Suicide’s “Ghost Rider.” It was a fantastic rendtion, full of as much raw force as the original, and came as quite a surprise to the goth loving portion of the audience (who might also remember Sisters Of Mercy covering the same song back in the day). The aggressive encore continued with two blistering tracks from Strange House (and the only songs played from the band’s debut during the set), the searing “Count In Fives,” and set closer “Gloves,” which steamrolled the audience with its unrestrained intensity. It also showed the wildly powerful roots of the band, who have refined their tempestuous tendencies a bit on their new album without sacrificing any of the potency. And with that, the band left the stage, having completely decimated their adoring audience with their abrasive and evocative brand of rock ‘n roll. It ended a great night of music that was everything a St. Paul crowd could ask for on a Saturday night.

[Review by Erik Thompson, photos by Jon Behm.]

The Horrors Setlist:
Mirror’s Image
Three Decades
Primary Colours
Do You Remember
New Ice Age
Scarlett Fields
I Only Think Of You
I Can’t Control Myself
Who Can Say
Sea Within A Sea
Ghost Rider (Suicide cover/encore)
Count In Fives (encore)
Gloves (encore)

Also: The Kills & the Horrors @ First Avenue