The Perils @ Latest Music Bar, 19 Jan
Rough Trade’s Breakthrough event at the Latest Music Bar most definitely made like Ronseal and did exactly what it said on the tin; though as The Perils took to the stage they couldn’t have impressed less. With an arrogant ramble front man Danny began to extol the virtues of making music for the sake of good music, and not of course for being “trendy or… whatever”. So far so generic and, compounded by the combination of indoors sunglasses with skinny jeans and a wifebeater and an opening song that sounded a bit too much like a copy and paste Fratellis’ tune, my palm was soon hitting my face.
How nice it is to be proved wrong though, because it turns out The Perils are actually something quite special. Two songs in and the tempo changed abruptly. Perhaps there is a correlation between the disappearance of sunglasses on stage and good music, but regardless they converted me in a matter of seconds with the unstoppable and exciting ‘The River’. The song was watertight; the guitars riffing against each other through vibrant beats and vocals, marking the direction taken for the rest of the gig. By the time they had finished with a flourish of ‘Be Your Peril’ and ‘If I Was King’ the audience were whipped into a Peril-hungry frenzy, dragging band members into the crowd for the final song before finishing in a sweaty, heaving mess on the floor.
It seems the arrogance is justified. The Perils are good, and they know it. If this is the next big thing, as Rough Trade would like it to be known, then I’m quite looking forward to it – although only on the condition that I don’t have to follow their fashion advice.