Pervert Wasp. Castle Ruins III closing party.
The King Billy Pub. Nottingham. 21/09/19.
I’ve always felt a pang of
guilt where Pervert Wasp are concerned, back in 2017 they played Rammel Club. I
couldn’t go as I got back from London too late and was too tired to see them. I’d
heard that this gig was amazing. I then met one of the players in the band some
years later and felt guilty when he said he was a member and I remembered who
they were as you don’t forget a name like Pervert Wasp.
One of the members Martin
Rayment was the catalogue designer and key organisers of an excellent group
show ‘Castle Ruins 3’ at the King Billy in Nottingham and Pervert Wasp were
playing as part of the closing party.
When they started playing it
was an almost delicate beginning dependent on the subtle dynamics between
percussion (2), bass (1) and guitarists (2). It crossed the line between ritual
occult psychedelic and fractured Jazz, but in an odd territory. The saxophone
player Alasdair Ambrose switched between warped vocals, bongos and sax, which I
liked. The rhythm section was subtle, the slightest changes in intensity felt
massive and could pull back instantly. There were moments were the nearest
comparisons I could draw were early Chrome and the more warped aspects of
SMEGMA and the Virgin Prunes and abstractly it was just somewhere else at the
same time. The balance between structure and abstraction was delicate. The
guest on main percussion was impressive in his ability to maintain the
punishing, repetition of the rhythm throughout the performance.
The sense of ritual to the
performance was intense, there were laser lights, dry ice and the vocals were chanted.
When the saxophone came in, it cut through everything like lone voice, wailing
painfully. The rhythm never changed as guitars conversed around it, the vocals
switched between Alasdair Ambrose and Ruby Rosetta who did a performance piece with
the band playing, she played the part of her missing cat throughout the show,
this was equal parts enchanting, frightening and heartfelt as she crawled
across the stage and through the audience as a cat. She was dressed in Orange,
to represent the ginger colouring of her cat. The use of performance and
visuals beyond the usual of just having video or visuals in the background was
immense.
This was an amazing
performance that built up through powerful dynamics, weirdness and ritual. Listening
to what’s on the Bandcamp, this was a lot more out there in comparison. I’ve
seen some local bands do epic performances that build up over a few songs, but
this was something else as it built up as one continuous jam and worked
perfectly.
Nevis Cretini 2019.
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