“It’s Saturday?” asks Squid lead singer and drummer Ollie Judge at the August Hall on March 12th. It was definitely Saturday night for the very diverse crowd where people from all walks of life enjoyed the emerging UK based post-punk band. The pit quickly built up a good crowd during art-punk opener Delilluh whose unconventional sounds set the tone for the rest of the evening. Deliluh set a tone that was much more different from the typical punk show opener who would already have had the audience moshing and sweating. Vocalist Kyle Knapp maintained a strained yet dynamic voiced fitting with the bands slower and unsettling tone. The pit went mostly unmoved for the entirety of the opener but fans were quick to praise them after the set with whispers regarding the many different unorthodox instruments and the colorful stage lights that were contrasted the bleak sounding band.
New wave music filled the venue while excitement for Squid only grew once members Louis Borlase, Anton Pearson, Arthur Leadbetter, and Laurie Nankivell took the stage, set up, and then began playing their respective instruments. All would pick up more than one throughout the night with Nankivell also notably playing trumpet. The show picks up immediately after Judge bangs on his drum kit and begins singing in his eccentric voice reminiscent of Talking Heads’ David Byrne. The opening song, unreleased, “Fugue” kicks off the night. Judges drums and voice immediately overtake the venue with the stage lights corresponding to this with in and out flashes becoming a repetitive motif throughout the bands set which like a classic punk show was characterized by short energetic bursts (that become more noticeable after second song “Peel St”) then this is where Squid strays from a typical punk band, in between each song lulls of unnatural ambient sounds replace white noise, there was always something interesting playing in background. The members all found themselves constantly preoccupied in between their songs with one of their many instruments that contributed to the lack of silence throughout the entirety of the set.
The crowd was noticeably divided in half, one side containing older fans (at one point I saw a group of grandads drinking beer and just hanging out in the pit) while the other side contained the younger crowd, many of who moshed for almost the entirety of the show including between the bands ambiental and distorted sounds which as mentioned before were omnipresent throughout the show. While the older crowd danced mostly in head shakes if at all, the younger side of the room hopped and clapped along whenever the opportunity arose. The pit was definitely a lot more still when compared to the typical “forced to mosh because of people pushing to the front or the formation of bigger circle-pits”. The pit resembled a dance party more than a circle-pit which was actually refreshing as the month prior I saw punk band Turnstile with friends and one came out after the show with broken glasses and the other having been punched in the face, a few times. Pits at punk shows never cease to amaze me with all of them containing different but exciting energies.
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Though silence was rare, with one of the band’s main staples of the show being the continuous sound that came in form effects through things like synths and fuzz pedals of which emanated a jazz-like improvisational sound, the crowd enthusiastically talked to the band on stage, many claiming to also be seeing the band in Los Angeles the next day. Everyone in the venue was in awe after every song proving the bands noteworthy musicianship and also showcasing the concert-goer in a way, with both parties providing a change of pace on behalf of the typical punk show scene.
The band’s punk sound really shined towards the end with most popular song “Narrator”, being the closer. Once again Judge’s voice is complemented by the rest of the band’s eccentric playing and the stage lights rapid flashing, creating some uneasiness with the climax being put on hold while judge repeatedly shouts “I play mine” only adding to the climax once all of the instruments methodically clash together. The instruments continue to fill the venue even after each member begins to walk off stage one by one, the build up was astonishing with the crowd standing still in the venue minutes after the concert. Suddenly the lights turn on, the music stops and Enya begins to see the audience out through the speaker, really the best way to end the show.
Bright Green Field (2021) is Squid’s debut LP, the young band’s (who are also signed under legendary record label Warp Records) experimental project only fills the music scene with excitement for what is to come from them and from post-punk as a developing genre.
Article by Sabrina Herrera
Photos by Marcella Welter