Reviewed onThursday December 10
“We’ve got some classics for you,” Royal Chant’s Mark Spence promised towards the front end of his band’s grit-meets-glitter set. “A treasure trove.” His wry smile indicated he was being self-deprecating, but as the three-piece blasted through tunes like the endlessly likeable ‘Dick Move’ and ‘I Am A Model’ it became abundantly clear that Royal Chant do have access to a treasure trove; one overflowing with giddy, glorious fuzz-pop gems.
Though they were meant to perform first, a clerical error bumped Service Bells up the billing, and they took to the stage shortly after Royal Chant belted out their final number. With their knotty three-piece harmonies and eerie, reverb-heavy guitar work, they slunk through a striking set, as the subdued but respectful audience nodded in grim appreciation.
By the time Waax arrived a kind of reverent silence had taken hold of the place. These guys’ reputation proceeds them – they have been described as a “terrifying” live presence – and the tension was palpable as lead singer Marie DeVita gripped the microphone by its neck and began to sing.
Though proceedings started deliberately slowly, it wasn’t long before the kindling took. With five members crowding the stage, the band seemed like so much flesh in so little space, and their close proximity to one another added a claustrophobic intensity to the surf-punk and hair-metal-indebted tunes.
DeVita proved to be a compelling presence. Discarding the stage the way a snake sheds its skin, she lunged out at the ill-prepared audience, her voice a pained, hoarse howl. Every line she sang seemed like an uneasy combination of threat and prayer, but even though her tone fluctuated wildly, she never allowed things to dip into all-out hysteria.
At times, DeVita’s expression and pose seemed almost parodic; her arms clasped behind her back, she seemed like a sociopath posing as a saint. But despite the sadistic scheme of imitation going on, what proved to be most striking was the band’s ultimate honesty. Waax and DeVita lie in order to tell the truth, and by the time they had smashed their new single ‘I For An Eye’ into a fine dust, every shred of artifice had been torn away. The veil had come loose. The band had been revealed.
