I first saw The Twang at ‘Twangmas’ 2022 almost exactly a year ago, and recalled a loud, rage-fuelled act. Frontman Phil Etheridge slurred his way through the set - although this simply added to the drunken ambience of the room. I accidentally ended up in an aggressive mosh pit at the mere height of 5’1, but I managed to catch a record after Santa Claus appeared on stage throwing out merch, making this one of the more memorable gigs in recent history for me. They struck me as a raw and eclectic act; this was one of my first older indie-rock bands and I absolutely loved it. 

The Birmingham-born band are back for yet another headline show, this time at the O2 Institute. This venue has hosted numerous acts, most notably (for me) The Boo Radleys, CUD and The Sherlocks.

I last saw The Twang supported by The Lottery Winners and Corella (both were brilliant and are fantastic up and coming indie bands, but that’s for another article). This time round, they had support from Headshrinkers, another band originating from Birmingham. They were named as Brum Radio’s ‘Band of the Year’ in 2020, only one year into their career. They’ve supported The Rills, and new-punk band Stone. 

Upon arriving at the O2 institute, I quickly realised this was a quadruple header, with The Effenaar and Chappaqua Wrestling set to support also, which I wasn’t aware of previously. With my ancient Canon camera in hand, I prepared myself for the night. 

All four bands brought something totally different to the night; The Headshrinkers opened the night with their punky, spoken-word songs, with punchy bass lines and grunge tinged guitar tones that reminded me of something by Sonic Youth or Joy Division. The frontman decided that self-depreciating humour was the best way to try and sell tickets to their next gig, which is a hometown show at The Hare and Hounds on 4th February, telling us very directly that if we think they’re shit, don’t buy tickets, so take that as you will. I personally found him quite engaging and would happily see them again, but hopefully with more confidence next time. 

Next up was The Effenaar. Now bear in mind, this is a band I hadn’t heard of before, and when I saw two men on stage with one guitar, a laptop and a keyboard, nothing could’ve prepared me for the wall of sound they would create. There were a few die-hard fans at the front who knew all the words, which I thought was impressive due to the complexity of these songs. I would describe them as energetic, yet melodic; it seemed to be an interesting mix of punk and EDM, with lots of play-on-words and hidden lyrical messages. Think The Streets, but with more drum and bass, and with a bunch of different reverb and echo effects. The electric guitar over the top of the tracks was a nice touch. There was also a mention of a new song by the name of ‘This is My Town’ coming out in February, which we got to hear as the set closed. 

Now onto Chappaqua Wrestling – I was instantly hooked by the drumming; (I hadn’t even realised it was two drummers until the second song) – this just goes to show how perfectly in sync they were. Chappaqua Wrestling are a unique band, with no set genre as every song brought something different. This was very well done – with interesting chord progressions and melodies, the songs never seemed to go where you thought they would, which makes a nice change from predictable melodies. Some political messages shone through in this set, which was a recurring theme throughout the night. A few people started moshing at the song ‘Wide Asleep’ while a few super fans were singing the entire song near-perfectly. 

At this point, it's worth noting the crowd were clearly very excited to see The Twang, and made this apparent by chanting their songs at absolutely any quiet moment, to which Chappaqua Wrestling accurately said that it was ‘like 3pm at a football game’ which only heightened their excitement. Santa hats could be seen all around – orange in colour to match The Twang’s merchandise. 

Now, the main event. Finally, the crowd were fully engaged, all eyes on frontman Phil Etheridge sporting a lovely octopus shirt. They opened the set with ‘Wide Awake’ – finally answering the crowds’ prayers, as I positioned myself in front of the barrier, Kodak Brownie at the ready. By the time they’d moved onto ‘Barney Rubble’ I had successfully dodged maybe 5 crowd-surfers who had been yanked over the barrier and ‘assisted’ out of the photo pit by security. Honestly, I should’ve been more prepared after last year! Even back behind the barrier, I wasn't safe from the hordes of middle-aged, balding men trying to create a mosh pit. All three floors of the institute were on their feet, frontman Phil was doing his usual happy act of dancing around just generally looking overjoyed, which always puts a smile on my face when seeing The Twang.

The catchy lyrics of ‘Mainline’ had the whole room singing along. It was about this point in the set that Phil decided to thank us all for being there, before he (in his own words) drank too much of his rum and forgot, which i thought was slightly too late yet very on brand. At the start of ‘Got Me Sussed’ we decided to seek refuge away from the carnage of the mosh pit in the stalls, and escaped upstairs to the balcony. This was probably taking advantage of the overwhelmed security staff, however it made for some great views during ‘You on My Shoulders’ which saw Phil asking everyone to get on their mates’ shoulders (whilst the security stood on, powerless to act), and the audience singing the song back to the band. It just stood out as a wholesome moment between band and audience. Directly after, in ‘It Feels Like (You’re Wasting My Time)’, I watched someone very nonchalantly smoking a cigarette; I feel like these two moments perfectly sum up seeing The Twang live. 

‘Paradise’ had some nice melodies and romantic lyrics, while ‘Two Lovers’ prompted a huge reaction from the crowd, with some garments of clothing even being lost to the stage. The next song, ‘Took the Fun’ received a similar reaction. A record number of cups were thrown and I counted masses of crowd-surfers once again. The mosh pit was lively (although it hadn’t actually slowed down all night). There was rainbow lighting for this song as well, which was a nice touch. 

This was followed by the end of the gig – but not really – with the band hurrying off stage. People were still moshing despite the lack of music, and the band quickly ran back out, with Phil assuring the crowd that they’d never leave. They did a high energy cover of ‘Tinseltown in The Rain’, then into a cover of ‘Drinking in LA’ which featured a beautiful guitar solo, possibly the nicest of the night. The next song stood out to me massively. ‘Guapa’ is amazingly deceptive, starting off slow and melodic and increasing in tempo so drastically that everyone was moshing by the end. A pit had formed in the stalls (?) and any energy the crowd had let go of previously, was back with a vengeance.

They closed with the classic ‘Cloudy Room’, this song played as an outro did a great job of keeping the energy up right till the last moment; flicking between high and low tempo.

The final words came from Phil as he wished the room ‘Feliz Navidad’, and they were off……

Words and Pictures by Erin Labban