Loose Articles, The Snug. 5th February 2023

It’s independent Venue Week. So I’m holed up in the aptly named The Snug in Atherton watching the very independent Loose Articles. It’s a small venue and pretty wonderful to be honest, but I’m waiting for it to warm up. It’s Baltic outside, we might need to jump about a bit. Warming us up, a band called Body Water are blasting out rock riffs with some enthusiastically theatrical vocals. I’ll be honest it’s not my bag, but the drummer is wearing a tshirt that says ‘Drummer’ and I appreciate the little things. I’m not convinced by the next band Lucigenic either and I’ll leave it there, as I can’t really think of anything else to write that’s not going to sound negative and that’s not the point of this. Some people are into it and getting people in smaller venues enjoying live music is the point. To be fair their last song has some punch. I’m here for the headline though. Watching Loose Articles live is a very different experience to listening on record. Sure their sound is angular, punky and wonderfully chaotic even listening in your kitchen, but on stage they’re like a bomb that just keeps detonating. Particularly singer Natalie who’s the very definition of commanding. Lyrics calling out “misogynistic clowns”, declaring “I am equal”, bemoaning Boris, Boomers and hating buses. Kicking off with ‘Eggshells’ it’s a ferocious statement of intent. They want The Snug to go off. ‘Up The Disco’ gets part way there, but ‘Buses’ really unites the room. I mean come on, everyone really does hate buses. I’ve struggled with ‘Dirty Dicks…’ on record, but live those haunting guitar echos and keys sound really cool. A new one about “Sinead who fucking loves bitcoin” is great, but the riff on ‘Snake’ is fucking killer. Show me a band better than Loose Articles playing ‘Kick Like a Girl’ though and I’ll be amazed. That they don’t let up from there is staggering. It’s maybe easy to get carried away in such a small room, but ‘Chaos’ and ‘Lethal Weapon’ sound massive. Great bands. Small rooms. Absolute heaven. “We might not be working but we do have class”. They certain bloody do. Awesome.