Live
Diet Cig + The Spook School
The Hope & Ruin, Brighton
October 26 2017
Words/Pictures: Steve Willcox
On their current UK tour, New York duo Diet Cig stop off in Brighton to air a taste of their self-styled 'slop pop' sound, along with Glaswegian tour partners The Spook School.
With only five days until Halloween, I am half expecting to be a little frightened by ominous sounding Spookies. Though it transpires that this punk four-piece couldn't be further from it; thrilling the circuit with their brand of high octane pop-punk that lyrically cover issues with a gender and, non-binary focus, interspersed with audience banter. Drummer Niall McCamley, sporting a 70s moustache, snazzy leopard print shorts and white frilly shirt (who calls Diet Cig ‘beautiful angels’), as they start off on ‘I Want To Kiss You'. Sounding very upbeat and subversive, they soon gets the crowd swaying, a bit like The Rezillos and Buzzcocks, but with each member apart from Niall sharing vocals.
Lead vocalist/guitarist Nye Todd has an impressive voice and with clever lyrics he wins overs hearts and minds as the subject songs like ‘Burn Masculinity’ hit home. ‘Less Than Perfect’, sung by Anna Cory, delivering a vocal a few octaves higher than the others, brings her rhythmic bass lines element to match. 'Binary’, another crowd favourite, starts with rapid beats and thrashing guitars which soon gets the audience dancing.
Latest single and crowd pleaser ‘Still Alive’, a song about not being in a abusive relationship anymore and written by guitarist Adam Todd from a personal perspective, and with the chorus that’s still in my head - "Fuck you I’m still alive / I’m not going anywhere with you" - has Todd trading superb guitar riffs aplenty. The biggest surprise of the night came when they played a cover of Whitfield's ‘Saturday Night‘ - joined by Diet Cig acting out moves to the lyrics, which naturally brought much hilarity.
Diet Cig are one of those punk bands that only come around once in a while. The self-styled 'slop pop' pair bring a bit of happy anarchy to these shores, starting with guidelines of behaviour for the crowd. I guess the USA have taken this ‘in the crowd’ sexual harrassment thing seriously and rightfully so (though I’ve never seen any trouble like that at Brighton gigs). Opening with slow starter ‘Sixteen’ it soon kicks off with Alex Luciano’s off-kilter voice (with a hint of the Björk’s about it) about high school relationship angst. With Alex’s trademark highkicks and playful antics and this capacity crowd absolutely love it and combined with Noah Bowman’s drumming it brings some slightly crazy vibes to this venue.
The addictive ‘Sleep Talk’ sums the overall sound of the band: everyday life lyrics fuelled by banging riffs and beats. Short but quirky love song ‘Apricots’ makes you fall head over heels with their delicate handling of this simple tune. They soon get into second gear and bring out fan favourites ‘Maid of the Mist’ with its frantic drums and dance-along guitars, and ‘Barf Day’ with its crescendo guitars and innocent lyrics.
While Alex jumps around the stage during ‘Blob Zombie’ like the stage is electrified and only way to get away is to jump, or foray into the crowd. Noah is quite content being the quiet drummer in this duo and is probably the stabilising influence of the two. Final song of the night comes via ‘Harvard’, another from their April released 'Swear I’m Good At This' debut album. A tale of resentment and sounds great with Noah’s drumming and exhaustive guitar work by Alex, so much she collapses in a heap on the floor.
The best quote of the night has to come from Alex: "It’s totally punk rock to be a hydrated little mushroom." Hear, hear.
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