Woods, Hookworms / Brudenell Social Club

Having heard many a critic (a few friends) sing down their songs of praise over both Woods and Hookworms I figured I should probably go see them if I ever had such fortune. So you could imagine my mild happiness when I found out they were playing on the same bill at the Brudenell Social Club in Leeds and that I would finally be able to kill two birds with one stone.

An enthusiastic German shepherd had seemingly got things off to a decent start by murdering a pigeon in cold blood on the patio just outside the venue, sadly I wasn’t around to break it up but eye whiteness’ had said it was wonderful.

Now Hookworms had been previously described to me as a parasitic nematode that lives in the small intestine of its host but these guys were much better than that... Throwing down the cards of ambience being pushed about by a driving psychedelic rock, the dark unnerving drones are sliced callously by shrieking vocals making for a pretty amazing sound. With the band in full swing it is easy to see why people are so into them. What was a shame however was when the lead singer pushed his keyboard off the stage. Seemingly quite upset he then proceeded to batter it with the mic stand... Looks like someone didn’t get his Weetabix in the morning! Saying that, when he did manage to pull himself away from vandalising his beloved keyboard the result was awesome! Purely conveying his disdain for the thing through the mic it sounded remarkable, and to my ears, the dearly departed wasn’t that sorely missed. It’s a shame though, as once again building a good momentum , a few nice members of the crowd managed to put the instrument back in place and get it plugged in. However as soon as he realised that the keyboard was clearly now pretty much screwed so he tossed it once more and cut the set short there and then. Chin up.



Woods came on in a totally different fashion, again not completely knowing what to expect I was completely taken with the beautifully written songs being presented to me. True delicacy in the vocals mixed with super dreamy guitars drew me straight in, at this point I turned to one of the audience and he just nodded to me with that knowing look that says “yeah”. Well at least that’s what I thought he was saying... As soon as the band were growing some momentum in their set the acoustic was swapped for electric fuzz and the indie folk turned a bit garage and it was only a good thing really as it was at this point that they really started to come together. Beginning to sound a bit like The Shins but with an ever more laid back finish, the band were physically enthralled in what they were doing and were really impressive to watch. Such a mix of sweet and lo noise makes for a good time, and I would say that is pretty much what was to be had.

I would implore you all to check both of these bands out; I’d maybe avoid standing directly in front of the Keyboards in Hookworms though... probably a bit dangerous.