Oh! Gunquit Searing Garage Rock Rampage At The Lexington

This sold out show at The Lexington felt like it was The Nuggets after show, especially as tonight on the wheels of steel they had DJ Scratchy who had been DJ of choice for Lenny Kayes Nuggets shows at The 100 Club, that and it seemed like most of the audience had also been to one or other Nuggets shows.

First on were Daffodils who are the band of that name from the Badlands of Lower Clapton rather than any other bands of the same name. They are a six-piece band who also have the bands very own sculptor King Klay onstage moulding and reshaping clay throughout the set.

The Daffodils @ The Lexington, London 2024.04.06

Oh! Gunquit @ The Lexington, London 2024.04.06

They had a western swing punk feel in a lot of places. Tube Air seemed to tell a tale we are all familiar with in London, as the lap steel player led them into the band’s first single Bonedown. Meanwhile, the sculptor wiped the face off his clay and started again. They really seemed to be doing everything they could to get In My Head and sort of succeeded. They closed with a great full-on cover of Pablo Picasso that was closer to John Cales’s interpretation than The Modern Lovers original.

It’s been 9 years since I first saw Oh! Gunquit opening for The Pandoras during which time they seem to have honed their sleazy Garage rock into a well oiled machine, as they opened with Last Day On Earth that was the opening song on Why Haven’t You Watered The Plants that saw Tina Swasey end the song by jumping into the audience and singing the last chorus from on top of the bar.

Oh! Gunquit @ The Lexington, London 2024.04.06

Fireball was super intense with Luciano Oltramari blasting his sax into the stratosphere as Simon Wild let loose on guitar. Attack of The Killer Cranes had Veronica Arcilas taut bassline leading the attack. Tina told us that Shark Bait was a new song about her fear of swimming in shark infested waters, that had some really intense guitar to illustrate the fear she felt. Dying To Dine kept the horror film theme going as desperation never sounded so cool.

Ride The Trip Out had a great battle between Tina’s trumpet and Luciano’s sax squalling away. Get Wound Up was full of Tina high kicking and strutting the stage full of rage and anger. Gutter Stars almost feels like a theme song, for the full on sleazy as can be lifestyles they embrace, with lots of moaned oooh’s and aah’s. Head Bites Tail was greeted like the old friend it is, with a gloriously sleazy edge to it. Tina made sure everyone knew exactly what she meant during Dance Like Fuck as she pulled her leather shorts even higher up.

Oh! Gunquit @ The Lexington, London 2024.04.06

Tina grabbed her Whip ready for some action during Whiplash, as the rumbling beat drove it on. She then jumped into the audience and the first person she whipped was my fab girlfriend, before she allowed a few lucky fans to whip her too. Ah what did Suzy do to have this song written about her? Love Your Hate has some great greasy guitar from Simon before Tina started to yell go man go on Nomads Of The Lost. It was now time to Ask What You Want, well apparently it was to start Sniffing Glue again, to prove the point Tina did just that before passing the bag around to get us all high with her.

So Long Sucker had a great trumpet solo as we waved that idiot bye bye, then it was time for some hula hoop rock & Roll as Tina played her trumpet, sang and hula hooped her way through Crossfire… This always goes down a storm. I’m Gonna Whack It had its normal cheeky grin as well as some more audience interaction with Luciano and Tina both in the audience for a good part of the song.

This full on set had turned the milk so much, it was now Bad, Bad, Milk that had gone, before they reached curfew, inviting the audience onstage to dance with them on the classic Voodoo Meatshake that left the audience wanting more after the longest show I’ve seen them play.