Live

The Bridport Dagger, Naseby Fox

Miss Fliss 17/09/2009

Arrived in time to catch the last death throes of a thirsty pirate (if only this was the singer's name; instead it was Naseby Fox). My gig buddy alternately described the support artist as reviving the painfully stretched vocal moments of Ivor Cutler. Getting lost in Brixton proved serendipitous as the wait for the grand Bridport Dagger was then brief. In that time, the Shot By Both Sides night didn't prove itself to be the viscerally exciting event it seemed on paper - bored horses bypassed us with their tray of cakes, and the free fanzine spent four pages talking if not sexist twaddle then just using a plain unsettling manner (I was glad I lost it on the tube home). As a wry side note: I'm unsure that a night that lists 'bloodlust' as an option should be caught playing The Housemartins.

No matter all this, for The Bridport Dagger were the main attraction at any rate, and they provided ample rockabilly raucousness. It's a shock to find that they are a bass-less outfit, instead relying on two guitars, since there is such a sturdy thud to their rolling rhythmic undercarriage. You would not credit them as being so terse of line up at just three members, either. The room is filled with their driving, powerful presence. Bridport's drummer was a show of cymbal and snare drum bashing, seemingly freestyle and for the hell of it, all to his personal feel for music rather than the rigidity of taught methods. And the two guitarists were a mass of hair shaking, bent backs, and blurred wires. There was something of a Love Ends Disaster! feel to the vocals, and an overall B-movie vibe.

Fresh of face and feral with intent, carousing with rousing rock and roll, The Bridport Dagger cut their mark tonight.