Bloodworm
Bloodworm, The Rain Age, The Solution
Bloodworm @ Jam Café, Nottingham, UK, 31 January 2024,
February 12, 2024
Web Exclusive
It speaks volumes for a city's music scene when the hottest tickets in town are for some of its local acts. Although we're only a month into 2024, Nottingham has already seen Marvin's Revenge sell out Bodega, while thousands turned out last weekend for the sixth edition of the annual Beat the Streets event, which also featured a host of local artists.
So it should come as no surprise as the first month of this year draws to a close that the hottest ticket tonight is at the city's intimate Jam Café for a three-band bill featuring Bloodworm and The Rain Age alongside Nottingham hopefuls. -Mancunian small outfit The Solution. With tickets selling out within hours of their release and anticipation building for weeks, the Jam Café was the perfect place to be on this cold January evening.
Openers The solution successfully proved why it's always imperative to get to shows early and check out the supporting acts. Invited to headline tonight's appearance on the back of a show together in Manchester a few months earlier, The Solution have no doubt won many new devotees in Nottingham tonight. The four-piece describe themselves as aiming to be “pioneers of the gothic revival,” and while that may come true in time, it really only tells a fraction of the story.
![The solution](https://undertheradarmag.com/uploads/review_images/Solu3.jpg)
![The solution](https://undertheradarmag.com/uploads/review_images/Solu3.jpg)
Playing eight songs tonight that veer from the dramatic Berlin-era Bowie (“Hit The Floor”) to the death disco of ACR/Working Men's Club (“Taste”) through more traditional post-punk (the first half of the set ) as decisive as it is unpredictable, which just adds to the excitement. Vocalist and occasional guitarist Shan Henderson is a live performer, a fine focal point who delivers each song as if it were his last before closing with a slick cover of The Teardrop Explodes' “Sleeping Gas” that equals ESG. it's Julian Cope. The Solutions are the ones to watch in the coming months without any doubt.
![The solution](https://undertheradarmag.com/uploads/review_images/Solu1.jpg)
![The solution](https://undertheradarmag.com/uploads/review_images/Solu1.jpg)
Next up are the Nottingham-based trio The rainy season, whose collective members have been on the local scene for a while, having cut their teeth in various other bands before coming together. Although live performances have been fairly sporadic since the band's inception, The Rain Age have used this time to hone their craft with great skill.
![The rainy season](https://undertheradarmag.com/uploads/review_images/TRA1.jpg)
![The rainy season](https://undertheradarmag.com/uploads/review_images/TRA1.jpg)
Opener “Domesticated Living” is oddly reminiscent of The Walkmen circa bows and arrows, which is not an average benchmark for beginners. While 'Oscar Wilde' and 'Islanders' crackle with similar intensity as Protomartyr at their most passionate. Singer/guitarist Kieran Poole seems unmoved by the rapturous applause that greets each song, instead fully focused on his own world. A frantic cover of The Clash's “Charlie Don't Surf” leads ambiguously into set closer “Ease Up,” which turns into this, Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon et al.
![The rainy season](https://undertheradarmag.com/uploads/review_images/TRA2.jpg)
![The rainy season](https://undertheradarmag.com/uploads/review_images/TRA2.jpg)
While it's still early days in terms of recordings, The Rain Age were announced as serious contenders tonight. I have warned you!
In tonight's headlines and for Bloodworm it's probably fair to say that the last twelve months have been stratospheric. From their humble beginnings as three friends who met to make music to become Nottingham's brightest young hopes has been an amazing rise, and what is justified is their hard work and dedication. Having spent most of 2023 playing shows almost every week, their live set is arguably the most exciting to watch in town. Reference points are perfunctory but unimportant. All bands have it, but ultimately it's about defining their own sound, which Bloodworm are well on their way to achieving.
Playing eight songs tonight, including a brand new, as-yet-untitled early number, their confidence has grown immeasurably since the band Under the Radar first opened for Ghost Car at the Chameleon nearly a year ago. It's well known that two of the band's three recorded songs (“Alone In Your Garden” and “Bloodlust”) are randomly scattered at the beginning of the set, as they believe in the rest of their material. Singer-guitarist George Curtis delivers each verse with gleeful menace, one part Robert Smith, other parts Billy Idol and Peter Murphy respectively. Alongside him is bassist Chris Walker, whose shrewd artistry has been compared to The Cure's Simon Gallup, while machine-like drummer Euan Stevens completes the trio. Together they are a powerful and immeasurable force.
![Bloodworm](https://undertheradarmag.com/uploads/review_images/Bljc2.jpg)
![Bloodworm](https://undertheradarmag.com/uploads/review_images/Bljc2.jpg)
Live favorites 'Depths' and 'Back Of A Hand' sound more complete with each performance, while the moody 'Clairvoyance' serves as a grand penultimate monologue before the lively 'Cemetery Dance' transforms the Jam Café into an exciting and communal moshpit where all are welcome and participate accordingly.
Tonight will go down in people's memories as one of those “I was there” moments, because when Nottingham's Class of 2024 rolls out – which it will no doubt be in the coming months – you can bet Bloodworm's bottom dollar will be in first line.
![Bloodworm](https://undertheradarmag.com/uploads/review_images/Bljc3.jpg)
![Bloodworm](https://undertheradarmag.com/uploads/review_images/Bljc3.jpg)
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