LIVE: Vangoffey - No. 5 Denmark Street, London 28.05.15

The name “Vangoffey” doesn’t immediately conjure up a rich past of musical history, however search the name Danny Goffey and you’ll find a life lived by a man having been in both Supergrass, a power house of the ’90s britpop era, and Babyshambles – an equally, if not more, era defining band after the inevitable demise of The Libertines.

Danny, formally a drummer of the previous mentioned acts above, embarked on his first solo gig this eve fronting his own project, Vangoffey. A somewhat nervous frontman – he himself admitting he would rather be behind the drum kit and not the microphone – soon put the nerves to bed and stomped his way through a short but sweet set of indie infused disco pop.

Up until now all we’ve had to go on is his first offering, ‘Race For Life’, under this guise; An electronic piece of cool pop music that could not be anymore different to the projects in which he’s been involved in before. However this is left to the penultimate song in the set and the opening couple of tunes sounding slightly more familiar to that of which we may expect. Still turning the guitar sound on its head and laden with beats, loops, atmosphere and spoken word, he eased the wanting crowd gently into the transition.

He cut a figure not too dissimilar to that of Johnny Marr, and the silhouette was not where the comparisons end. The way Marr has moved on from previous projects and finely crafted his own sound in his last two solo records can also be attributed to Vangoffey, and the actual sound itself isn’t far apart either.

Tonight was just a taster of what’s to come and a showcase of what we can expect. Apart from a well dealt with false start on the second track, of which he held his hands up to blame, the set was seamless and one packed with energy and vigour. The tightly packed crowd, which included such figures as Rhys Ifans and Andy Burrows, received well what was on offer and left wanting more.

As mentioned before, the set itself was a short one, only 5 songs, and that of a showcase of further material. Goffey himself responded with “we’re only allowed to do 18 minutes” after the crowd were baying for “one more song”. But the rapturous applause and reception to ‘Race For Life’ already shows heads are turning with what’s on offer for the former Supergrass drummer and the phrase “keeping it in the family” has never more appropriate, with his son appearing in the video for the debut track and his daughter included in the artwork hanging around the cool central London venue.

A stomping debut gig offers only a sample of what we can expect from Vangoffey, and the future seems once again rosy for Danny Goffey.