Filthy Dukes: Live Review, Nottingham Rescue Rooms, 14th February 2009

2009-02-15 10:12:49

Dragging my poorly self to Nottingham’s Rescue Rooms to catch Filthy Dukes supporting the Secret Machines, I got into the place just as they’d kicked off their set. I can’t recall what ignited my interest in this lot, but yes, I really was here to see them and not the headliners. Stuff this week’s NME Awards gig to show us the way in ‘new music’, I prefer to do my music journalism research myself and one of the best ways to root out genuinely exciting stuff is to watch the traditional support band.
    
Warped bleeps hit the walls of my eardrums
    
Except this lot really aren’t. There’s an almighty booming bassline and cacophony of drumbeats as I walk into the dark room that immediately spark my excitement. Warped bleeps recalling the Chemical Brothers hit the walls of my eardrums and I feel as if I should be in Fabric.
    
Onstage there’s a live drummer (unknown), a guy on a drumpad and sequencers with a guitar close at hand (Olly Dixon), another on sequencer with a mic stand perched precariously nearby (Mark Lawton) and a final one surrounded by more sequencers and a moog (Mark Ralph). ‘Citin’!
    
I wander to the bar and they sound just as incredible near the back of the room as they do at the front. I look onstage and Lawton has taken to the mic and delivers undecipherable punky style yells while the rest just pump out the most phenomenal heavy-bass-synth-disco tunes I’ve heard in a long, long time.
    
The UK's answer to LCD Soundsystem, only better!
    
None of them look cool but Lawton looks very much like the offspring of Timmy Mallet and Kurt Cobain with his messy blonde hair, thick-rimmed glasses and black and white plaid shirt. Despite this, I think I’m witnessing the UK’s answer to LCD Soundsystem unfold right in front of my very (tired) eyes. Only replace LCD’s often lacking, two-dimensional effort with a massive surge of bass, drums, moogs and synths; in short, a colossal wall of sound.
    
It’s a damn shame that I can’t identify more of the tunes they’re playing and the only one they bother to introduce, Poison The Ivy, goes down a storm. It builds up into a pure technotronic stomper with Lawton adding vocals, looking awkward and a bit of an unlikely frontman.
    
It really doesn’t matter though as their performance as a collective is so unbelievably slick it’s untrue. They certainly shouldn’t be doing support slots anymore. I look around and it’s clear that the crowd that are already there are pretty damn impressed with this bunch of nerds shaking their heads onstage.
    
Two crap-haired idiots
    
Lawton thanks the crowd for their appreciation and announces they’re playing their last track. Cue two crap-haired idiots deciding to jump in front of me to stake their position for the headline band, despite the fact that the room isn’t full and they’re both a lot taller than me (which isn’t difficult).
    
Fools! I’m not even here to see the Secret Machines! In fact, you can take your headliners and stick them up your arse, cos I’ve just seen the most innovative new electronic band in ages! I walk out with a smug grin on my face, firmly promising myself to catch them when they hit Notts again in a few weeks, before crashing the Alkaline Trio show next door at Rock City.
    
Review: Michelle Dhillon
    
Filthy Dukes play Nottingham's Stealth nightclub on 28th February 2009
    

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