“I heard them during the sound check and they blew me away,” says one of tonight’s promoters, Tru Luv, about Holy Esque. Preceding their show at Glastonbury this year, they prepared by making an appearance at Dulcimer in Chorlton.
The seemingly hermetically sealed, completely blacked out, compact room upstairs hardly seems to be an ideal preparation for a forthcoming gig in the large naturally aerated tent in a field but for those not at Glasto we can take solace in thinking this could be a more fitting venue to witness Holy Esque in.
Veladrome launch tonight’s proceedings. A couple of weeks ago they
opened an all day event in Fallowfield and their vibrant, intense sounds were only witnessed by a handful of people.
Tonight, with the room approaching capacity, disaster struck. On that day in May, it was a fascinating contrast between the sharp, cutting, vocals of Lisa and the aggressive guitar and effects attack from Tom. With a barely perceptible, croaky, utterance, Lisa tries to confirm the all too obvious fact that her voice has ceased to function. The duo will give it a go though. First song, ‘Seeger (Part 1)’, is a deeply resonating, threatening instrumental affair, so it’s so far so good.
For the second number, ‘Violent Deer’, Lisa gives the vocals a go. The musical mood lightens a touch with this song, but the strain is too much and it signals the inevitable conclusion to this brief yet warmly received set.
“Come closer. Let’s make this interesting,” utters Pat Hynes, vocalist and guitarist with aforementioned Holy Esque. Interesting for whom?
Hynes has a set of vocal chords designed for the type of powerhouse rock that the band generates. His, bruising, gritty, exhortations fill the nooks and crannies of the venue, before spilling out into the surrounding streets and bars. It can make you wonder if paying the entrance fee to be inside the venue is necessary at one of their gigs as the sound quality is still pretty respectable outside.
Helping construct the platform for Hynes’s performance are guitarist Keir Reid, drummer Ralph McClure and guitarist Hugo McGinley. Most bands that play loud, aggressive music and have a Glaswegian connection such as Holy Esque will inevitably be tagged as having been reared on a Jesus And Mary Chain diet. If so, then this quartet has melded on a muscular framework that sweeps out in front of them.
Hynes wants the crowd to enjoy the gig as much as the band appear to, repeatedly enticing the audience forward, which, in a slightly uncertain but knowingly enjoyable fashion, they do.
Well, now that I’ve seen them, perhaps Glastonbury was the ideal place after all.
Words & photography:
Ged Camera.
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