Midnight on a wet and windy Sunday night in Glasgow isn’t exactly the optimum time to get a party started, but that’s exactly what Glasgow’s Fangs succeed in doing at the ‘Bent Out Of Shape’ club night in the city’s Admiral Bar.
From the opening bars of the stomping ‘Panic’ to the closing note of the encore ‘Hanging Around’, the dance-floor was filled with gyrating and grooving bodies as they delivered a full-on, storming half-hour set.
Fangs’ music is difficult to define. Be it ‘horror rock electro pop’ as declared on the event flyer (or perhaps more accurately ‘disco-punk’), just straight up (old school) New Wave with an added twist of Seventies Glam, there is no denying that Fangs are the real deal. Lloyd on synths, Findlay on drums and Marko on bass provide deep, gritty foundations to support The Queen’s dynamic, yelped and powerful vocals.
They are a very image-conscious band, but unlike so many before them, they are able to balance this aspect of their show with quality music. In The Queen, Fangs have a lead lady who does not shy away from the natural comparison to early Debbie Harry. With her peroxide blonde crimped hair, Police sunglasses and leather jacket, she struts, pouts and poses her way through the set. But for all that, her enjoyment in performing is very evident – as indeed is the bond between all four members, especially during instrumental breaks when The Queen gets close to both Lloyd and then Marko.
The music has a smooth and yet stomping feel to it, with one track in particular, ‘Starz’ reminiscent at times of Kasabian’s ‘Shoot The Runner’. Paradoxically, it can also appear dark and threatening, sometimes slightly manic, though still evoking a slightly camp feel! I have never visited the venue myself, but Fangs seem to be the kind of band that would have been welcomed with open arms at the iconic New York venue, CBGBs.
Glasgow continues to produce excellent bands from across the whole spectrum of musical genres and Fangs are most definitely amongst the ‘new wave’. They are well worth checking out, and if you don’t find yourself dancing around like a loon, then you are most likely also the type of person who can manage to eat a fruit pastille without chewing.