LIVE REVIEW: WAVVES HOXTON SQUARE BAR, JUNE 2012

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Californian band Wavves brought their lo-fi surf punk sounds to a sold-out Hoxton Square Bar & Kitchen for this eagerly anticipated gig, the only London date on their current tour and the first here for over a year and a half.

Frontman Nathan Williams mixed with fans and posed for photos pre gig before taking to the stage. After a couple of minutes of tuning the band launched furiously into the title track from their 2010 album ‘King of the beach’. The front half of the venue sprung into life matching the frantic pace and energy coming from the stage for the entire hour-long performance.

A set consisting mainly of newer material from 2011’s five song EP ‘Life Sux’ and ‘King of the Beach’ saw the band crashing around on stage, breaking guitars, knocking over drum kits and falling over several times yet still rarely missing a note.

Williams’ problems have been much publicised in recent years and the band has been through several line-up changes since his infamous onstage meltdown at Primavera in 2009, but they seem pretty happy as a quartet now and at times this set could have been mistaken for an ad-hoc practice session between mates in their garage, with the band joking around and jamming between songs.

The band thrashed through their set, revisiting older songs such ‘Beach Demon’ and ‘So bored’ later in the evening, with the pauses between songs becoming increasingly longer allowing both the band and crowd to rehydrate between the constant crowd-surfing and moshing. The biggest reactions of the night however were saved for their newer material, and we left this gig still buzzing and excited at the prospect of some new songs from Williams and his band mates following this tour.

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