I’ll say it now, I’m not normally one for Sunday night gigs, I have a Monday breakfast meeting at 08:30 and with a later than usual night with an increase in the levels of excitement, I find it hard to nod off and often find myself thinking about the gig into the wee small hours, not good when you have to present the latest stats and reports for the project you’re working on to top brass that were more than likely snuggled up with a warm milky beverage by 9pm.

Tonight was different, a band called Teenage Dads had made the trip from Australia to play a bunch of UK dates and a couple of festivals so who was I to moan about having to swap out the usual Sunday evening telly (Antiques Roadshow, Last of the Summer Wine) in exchange for some upbeat alt-pop indie, courtesy of four troopers that had bothered to travel thousands of miles to perform to their UK fans? 

I was at The Cavern in the heart of the city by 7pm to meet up with a new photographer (fresh blood...) we popped over to The Phoenix for a beer and a chat and he wowed me with his newish mirrorless Canon body, which, despite looking super sexy, lightweight and super quick, it failed to sway me from my trusty Canon 6D camera which has served me well over the past 7 years. 

We chatted to Jude at The Phoenix about his regular quizzes that he does in Exeter and had a good giggle at his ‘porn round’ where he makes up 5 film names and pulls 5 actual film names from the internet, funny thing is, I thought it was a GREAT idea so watch out folks, I’ll be finding a way of squeezing them into my usual music quizzes sometime soon! 

We ventured back to The Cavern to see that the doors were open, and people were making their way in. We had been placed on the guestlist but when we reached the nice man on the door, he explained that he hadn’t been given a guestlist, but Pippa had mentioned that we’d be there so all was good... (phew!)

We chatted to Alex (singer/guitarist) from the support band ‘Permanent (Joy)’, he explained that they are based in Liverpool and tonight was the first outing as ‘Permanent (Joy)’ as previously, they were called ‘Blondes’, so tonight could swing either way. Alex said that they would be supporting Teenage Dads on a few of their UK date (other than the festivals, Dublin and Glasgow) and they were excited to be getting back on the road to spread their sonic message to anyone kind enough to rock up early and catch their set. 

We also met with Angus (bass) from Teenage Dads ahead of the show, we chatted about their merch (some interesting looking T’s and a couple of EP’s on shiny vinyl), I mentioned that I’d like to purchase both of the EP’s but he didn’t know how much they were as their drummer ‘Vinnie’ took care of these sorts of things, He kindly stashed a couple away for me until after the show. 

Permanent (Joy) took to the stage and instantly impressed this reviewer with their super tight 3-part vocal harmonies, they sounded crisp and fresh (first night of the tour) and had the room eating out of their hands in next to no time. Their tracks were catchy, sublime slices of the alt-indie-pop pie and with a bassline that sounded as if Peter Hook was on stage with Joy Division circa 1979. The beats were motorik and heavy, the vocals heartfelt and meaningful, one track (I think it was ‘An Ending’) sounded like it had been lifted from the early days of post punk with its driving bass and powerful delivery. 

‘Josephine’ is the track that features on a CD that they were peddling on the merch table, a slower track but still had that trademark stomp to it and plenty of power, lashings of lead guitar and sounded reminiscent of an early Teenage Fanclub with their flopsy hairdos and instantly loveable Glaswegian indie-pop shyness. 

I missed the name of their last track owing to the guitar being doused in delay before kicking off, whilst sounding a little ‘busy’, it was still on par with their other offerings, it featured some interesting guitar work that wouldn’t have been out of place at a Tom Morello gig and this got deeper, resulting in something that J Mascis of Dinosaur Jr would have been keen to put his name to.  

All in all, a solid performance from a band that will go a long way, I’m glad that I got to see them in a very intimate venue as I don’t think it will be long until they’re gracing much larger stages.

From the off, it was clear that Teenage Dads were set on delivering a party vibe, granted it was a Sunday night, you’d expect a standard production at best bit tonight, it felt like a Friday or Saturday, you know what I mean, that feeling you get when you know that there’s one lie-in left before having to set the alarm for the dreaded 7:30am alarm on a Monday morning!

Their set started with a wonderful sound, almost ‘calypso’ if I were forced to describe it and this is where I come in with teh 'Vampire Weekend influence which may, or may not have had a hand in the music that they now produce. It was jangly, it was light, it was exactly what you needed on a Sunday night in Exeter to fool you into thinking it wasn’t!

They delivered some solid tracks during the set, with angular guitar riffs that sliced you in two whilst the keys played out a tremendous pop fuelled line, you couldn’t help but smile and bob along to it!

Their track ‘Honey’ was a full on banger and clear to see that it is a live highlight from their box of tricks, all guitars blazing, an all out cacophony of din, but one that I would have loved to have gone on longer. ‘Piano Girl’ had all the makings of a classic with its sing-a-long chorus which I would have thought that the band would have been keen to get the audience involved in but it seemed the moment slipped them by…

I recall a fab rendition of ‘Postman Pat’, not sure where it came from but it was light hearted and well received all the same. They also belted out an incredible version fo ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’ by The Buggles, which, seeing as it was released in 1979, considerably earlier than the band would have even been thought of, was a delight to see on their setlist and something that everyone would be talking about at work/college the next day. Their track ‘Teddy’ called upon the good people of Exeter to get involved, and get involved they did! the track itself was something akin to a space rock opera that Matt Bellamy and Freddie Mercury could have penned!

A throughly enjoyable set from an incredible band that I had only been introduced to a few weeks before with their latest track ‘Tale of a Man’, which I played on the radio show at least three times leading up to the show!

The band can be found making their way across Europe before heading back to tackle their Australia/New Zealand tour, god these boys are busy!

Words - Steve Muscutt

Pics - Matt Convery