Hot on the launch of their eponymously titled album, BERRIES boarded the good ship Thekla in Bristol for a rocking Tuesday night.

Opening the night we had JC and the Great Plague, describing themselves as a Bristolian Band, eerie guitar smut. A good following saw a tight performance, I expect to see more from these guys in the near future.

Next up was Grack Mack and the Pack self described “indie folk with a bit of pop and a bit of math rock” to get the crowd moving .

And then we had Berries. As its eponymous title makes clear, ‘BERRIES’, is the sound of a band determined to make a statement with their second full-length outing. While the band have never shied away from brutally honest admissions or difficult subject matters like struggles with mental health, ‘BERRIES’ finds them weaponising them into a set of fearlessly assertive tracks that seize strength from darkness.  Teaming up with production legend Adrian Bushby (Foo Fighters, Muse, Everything Everything), who took on mixing duties for the record, listeners will almost certainly feel that turbo-boost coursing through the veins of BERRIES 2.0. And between Riot Grrrl-esque discordance and thunderous grunge-rock anthems ripe for the big rooms, ‘BERRIES’ also finds a band spreading their wings with sonic explorations into shapeshifting math-rock (as on opener “Barricade”), epic post-rock nods (on  “Crumpled Clothes”), through shades of Power-Pop (as on the infectious “Narrow Tracks”), and even tender, unadorned acoustica (as on “Balance”). 

With 8 dates planned for October and November, following the release of ‘BERRIES’, Thekla sits in the middle of the tour that takes them North, South, East and West.

Opening up with track number one from the new album, Barricade grabs the attention of the crowd and right off the bat demonstrates the tightness of the band. Holly's articulate guitar playing, Lauren's thumping base and the driving drums from Lexi are thrust to the forefront from the start. As they rattle through Creature from the new album and We are Machines from previous How We Function album, the crowd are gripped. Blurry Shapes and Watching Wax are two of my favourite tracks from the new album and they work even better live. The band look like they are really having fun and effortlessness of the performance just shows how accomplished they are in their roles. Balance slows things down for a moment, a beautiful song with Holly working in mostly solo and acoustic. 

Then we are back up and running with Wall of Noise from the first album and the latest single Jagged Routine. Live, the new album really does come to life and the execution of some of the more intricate guitar parts, while singing, really is impressive. And its only now, when I look back through the set list that I realise, the band did the whole of the new album, in order, with a couple of older songs thrown in. Thats always a bit of a gamble but with songs this strong, it was executed brilliantly. 

Before the final song Spiral, Lauren reminded everyone that the was a "ménage à trois " of merch available before being swiftly corrected by Holly, suggesting that anyone turning up at the merch table after the set looking for that would be very disappointed ! But what they lack in their command of the French language, they make up in quality songs, fantastic energy and a real sense of fun. A great night on the boat and I can't wait to see them again in the future

Words and Pictures by Glenn Morrison