It may seem strange (if you’re someone who reads and listens to new music on a regular basis) that both Honeyblood and PINS are playing in the smaller of Liverpool’s o2 Academy venues and on the same bill. With both on to their sophomore albums and receiving regular radio airplay on indie stations, the running order for tonight’s show seems to have been made in error. And yet, here they are, one after the other, on a Friday night in Liverpool for just twelve quid. I certainly didn’t need much convincing to attend, despite the size of the venue.
For Manchester band PINS, a support slot is particularly inappropriate. Having really crossed-over into mainstream (indie) consciousness when 2014’s heart-shaped vinyl single release ‘Shoot You’ received strong support through airplay on 6Music, they cemented their place as a band of note with 2015’s Wild Nights album. This tour then, not directly connected to any particular release, seems designed for them to try out new material in smaller venues, and it largely succeeds.
In some ways, the band’s influences are clear – the drone and whine of Jesus and Mary Chain, the ethereal rawness of My Bloody Valentine, the “girls to the front” riot grrl ethic – but when combined, as it is at the best moments during tonight’s set, PINS turn it all into something compulsive and unique. Couple the sound with a look which sits somewhere between Left Bank of the Seine and ’90s pop-goth classic The Craft and it means, all in all, PINS storm through this set, carrying the crowd with them all the way.
Given the crowd’s enthusiastic reaction to the support act, there are some feelings of mild anxiety in the air as the stage is prepped for headliners, Honeyblood. Having never seen the band before, I had some reservations about how convincingly they could translate their material to live performance, owing to the particular pressure that would mean for lead-singer and guitarist Stina Tweedale. Having seen more experienced groups struggle to convey the fullness of their sound to the stage, my initial fears were that Honeyblood might suffer the same fate. And I was very pleased to be proved wrong.
Playing a set chiefly consisting of tracks taken from second album, Babes Never Die, the pair seem to be equally happy tearing through upbeat spiky singles ‘Sea Hearts’ and ‘Ready for the Magic’ as slowing things down for album tracks ‘Walking After Midnight’ and ‘Hey, Stellar’. It’s a sound that is more nuanced than the first album, with more varied lyrical themes, but crucially without any sacrifice of their signature power-pop sound, which is also displayed here through first album singles ‘Choker’ and ‘Killer Bangs’.
Stina, in particular, is a magnetic presence on-stage. At one point she convinces a member of the crowd to pass her his phone to record drummer Cat Myers playing the rhythm from ‘Billie Jean’ with other members of the audience singing the lyrics. Her voice, both youthful and powerful, is electrifying over the relentless percussion, veering from honeyed to, well, bloodied. All-round, it’s an impressive set, bursting with life to such an extent that the band are forced to conclude, on closing, that it’s been “intense”. Same here.
John McGovern
