Gig Review: Gurriers At Electric Brixton

It’s Tramhaus and Gurriers at Electric Brixton. Nobody’s Coming to Save You.

Well; that is – unless you’re Tramhaus and Gurriers, two bands selected with the daunting task to brave BOTH competing factors against them: South London in the middle of Storm Boelo and dance-punk heroes Fat Dog playing just down the road at their crowning headline show in their local ends at 02 Academy Brixton. Faced with an uphill battle and half and the collective fuckery of seemingly every public transport network in London on the same day in some form or the other; both bands stepped up to the task and performed it marvellously; smashing it out of the park – operating entirely in their element with possibly the biggest and best show of Gurriers’ career to date – having seen them almost ten times now from small festivals all the way up to this level; it’s fascinating to watch a band grow in their element.

 This is the second time I have seen Tramhaus, a world removed from East London’s Rich Mix and playing on the other side of Europe from the beloved Left of the Dial festival (where I spent my weekend prior; and braved rail replacement bus services, multiple trains and a plane to get back in time for this show) operating in their home turf on Rotterdam, and they own every minute of the massive stage that is Electric Brixton; which did sell out – it took it until the day but it DID sell out and is very packed in there long before Gurriers themselves come on stage. Tramhaus’ vocalist Lukas Jansen arrives dressed for the occasion. It’s daunting – big – and he wastes no time in getting the crowd ramped up; warmed up and the energy started in the room. They have the kind of propulsive, relentless, psychedelic energy that is a sheer relentless wall of sound yet fit firmly in the post-punk groove.

They are more refined and reigned in then their time at Rich Mix as headliners, now with ‘Blister’ under their belt – but are appropriately brilliant in their own regard – and very much as unhinged as normal – calling this reigned in is almost doing the band a disservice. It’s a combination of two records on the night; ‘Blister’ and ‘The First Exit’ – that captures the sharp, energetic Brixton-tinged worldview that gave birth to bands like Black Country, New Road and Shame – yet have the revelry of the “you must hear this live” energy that bands like Viagra Boys and Fat Dog bring to the table. If you’ve ever taken a chance on a band without knowing what they are before; and I suspect many of the room are – Tramhaus are perfect to jolt you into life. It is practically an underground supergroup already with Nadya van Osnabrugge (guitar), Micha Zaat (guitar), Julia Vroegh (bass) and Jim Luitjen (drums) already active in the local scene before forming Tramhaus.

They are a band that calls to mind the spirits of raw urban transport, perfect for a band coming from the Netherlands – explosive and rhythmic in its beats and reminiscent of peak 70s krautrock when they fully get going live. ‘Plovdiv’ is a commanding beat that revels in ramping up the tempo and the heat in the room – throughout the set they revel in kicking things up a gear when they want to with shades of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in quieter moments that showcase their strength in range. Caustic and raw; they know the right number of sounds are ready to pop off live and everything just comes together perfectly – never one to bow to the convention of an angry punk sound.

 Then it’s time for Gurriers; who blow the roof off from the word go with the industrial punk sound of ‘Nobody’s Coming to Save You’ that roars the audience into life. They’ve been warming up for this tour by playing a string of album sets across cities like Liverpool where I was lucky enough to catch them at Jacinda Baltic and the energy; be it in the tiny room of Jacinda with everyone waving their records in the air; or at Electric Brixton, is unmatched.

The full ten songs on the album we are treated to here – ‘Nobody’s Coming to Save You’ into ‘Party Lines’ ramps up the imagery that Dan Hoff sells to the audience; a damning indictment about how we’re supposed to go about our ordinary lives whilst the world be at war. He’s unafraid to get stuck in; daring the crowd to dance – and dance; the crowd do – a circle pit opens in a packed out Electric Brixton, and the crowd swirl around them. It isn’t long before the crowd-surfers start flying forwards and we’re in party mode – walls of death, the whole damn thing – this is one of Gurriers’ biggest headline shows to date and coming onto spaghetti western music to ramp up the energy in the crowd; a new choice; replacing the Franki Valli ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off You’ classic that the band used for album number one; is practically a battle cry. Gurriers can throw down with the big boys – they proved that at Rock Werchter; with 250 crowd surfers in a short 40-odd minute set – and now they’re back – not quite with that many here; but to get as many as they do tonight is some accomplishment. You can tell that this has been co-produced by Mark Bowen of IDLES – everything pops off live – designed to be listened to; like with Tramhaus, there in the room. It’s a testament to the brilliance of Gurriers that the band’s magic sounds chaotic as it does on the record – but if you haven’t seen a show live; you’re missing out on abrasive, magnetic energy. These are power-ballads; refined in the intimate rooms, designed for the bigger stages – Hoff tells Brixton Electric to dance, and dance Electric Brixton does. You’d be wrong to be anywhere else.

 The mosh-pit rager of the track is the catchy, punchy, ‘Nothing Happens Twice’. Revelling in the moment: it’s deployed strong after a belter of a combination of album one’s greatest hits ‘Nausea’ and ‘Des Goblin’. The band are insane when they take the stage and the live show really ramps up the tension with an intoxicating, unforgettable atmosphere. They have bluntly, fitted in the void perfectly when fans long for that call of ‘Dogrel’-era Fontaines to come back; and harken back to those days of late 2010s post-punk with a modern twist of despair and doom. Pulling from ‘Come and See’ – sharing the same name as the 1985 Elem Klimov wartime horror surely being no coincidence, the despair and dread is felt instantly. The three songs the band start with are peak early Gurriers – strong album starters that deliver a gut-punch of raw chaos energy.

The way ‘Des Goblin’ unleashes the audience into a frenzy is magnetic – To see it live in their purest form is remarkable – and then immediately going into ‘Nothing Happens Twice’ after the double header of ‘Pins’ and ‘Today is Not Enough?’ my god – the catchy, call-to-arms inciting ‘Nothing Happens Twice’, means that the whole thing swirls and swirls. Hoff lets the audience bellow the chorus back at him – as an absurdist take on the state of the modern world; it bangs instantly – fitting in with the themes of the alienation of the digital sphere. Just for a moment, tonight – all that is forgotten, a sense of community and escapism from the digital dread. That’s what bands like Gurriers do. It’s evident on their video and they recreate the folk horror experience live. “Before there was anything there was nothing first” Hoff howls. There will be nothing at the beginning and nothing at the end – so you might as well use that time in the middle to dance.

And dance the crowd do. ‘Dipping Out’ has the crowd are up in the air and hurling themselves at their heroes. This song about Irish people leaving their homeland is captured effortlessly here; and focuses on the wider theme of people leaving home in search of a new life – “failed by a system that never really lets you exist / and ruled by money overshadowed with a golden fist”. This is pure distilled punk energy that radiates throughout the room; inciting rebellion and revolution. The back half of the set is just as strong – descending into madness – ‘Drones’ comes for the modern weaponry of wartime of nations of choice; and the interlude allows the crowd to come up for air.

Then we’re back – ‘Top of the Bill’ sees the crowd go nuts again; and the beautiful ‘Waiting for Fisher’ earns its place as the track; along with setlist closer ‘Crybaby’ that shows the world Gurriers have depth. It questions the need to go beyond just existing and encourages audiences to do more than just live their modern-day lives – “who do you think you are / I am” is the call and response that sends the audience soaring. “Only ever filling another man’s wallet,” the lyrics remain pointed and angry as possible. Ben O’Neill and Mark MacCormack’s guitars keep the tracks anchored throughout the set, and drummer Pierce O’Callaghan really ups the tempo in the room with the relentless beats. Emmet White’s bass is unstoppable – and it’s a collective that really comes together, operating in their element live.

 Gurriers want to be a band that matter. They – to everyone in this room and beyond – do (we bump into Fat Dog fans on the night out afterwards wearing Gurriers shirts who had no idea they were playing just down the road). To illustrate their point and shine the light on Tramhaus as support; they have Lukas Jansen as lead. He delivers - and ‘Approachable’ is the song of the moment, criticising the right wingers of the world and the manosphere with a brutally searing indictment of the Andrew Tate-type culture and casting a light on those who genuinely believe they were “born in the wrong era”. As anthems for a revolution go - it’s as good as any.

Photos by @LILYHADDADI