2023-09-13 | Coach Party | Rough Trade, Nottingham

After a relatively busy start to the year, the summer has seen a dry spell of gigs, and therefore of posts to Gigregator. Thankfully, the ticket bookings have started accumulating for the back end of 2023, so watch this space for more sonic musings.

Coach Party are certainly a bit of a wildcard for me. I discovered the band on Radio 6 Music one sunny weekend morning, when their latest single What’s The Point In Life caught my ear and set a great positive tone for the day.

After checking out more of their material, it’s fair to say that Coach Party in no way fit the typical mould for my music taste. They’re somewhat grungy without being all that heavy, they’re certainly not Post Rock and they don’t have any of my nostalgia to leverage. Despite all this, their modern take on a 90’s style is a charming and easy-going listen. When I saw the band’s date in Nottingham, it wasn’t a tough choice to attend - at the very least it would give an interesting perspective on one of my lesser-studied genres.

Arriving in the venue, I was handed a freshly minted volume of the band’s brand new first album, KILLJOY. This was certainly one of the best subscribed Rough Trade gigs I’ve attended, with the stage area already overflowing out into the bar before there was any sign of the band on stage.

What followed was a short 30 minute set, with “stripped back” renditions of some of the band’s less aggressive numbers. I was impressed with the versatility of the band members, who often switched to different instruments to suit the upcoming song, opting for drum machines where more structure was required than what guitars alone could provide. You’d have been hard-pressed to identify that the band were pushing a far lower amplitude than their typical sound, as they still had great groove.

The laid-back sound highlighted an excellent vocal performance by frontwoman Jess. She befriended the audience, regaling them with stories of Isle of Wight, the band’s journey in the music scene and more personal anecdotes such as her lockdown obsession with Chris Evans fanfics (thankfully Captain America and not the radio presenter, despite my love of the latter).

Unseated drummer Guy backtracked hilariously after mistakenly referring to Bristol and dug himself a hole until Jess requested his mic was switched off. He later reasserted Nottingham’s dominance over Bristol in song and closed the set with what seemed like a genuinely impromptu encore, duoing Parasite with guitarist Joe, as Jess and Steph watched on from the audience.

My track of the set was undoubtedly Born Leader, the pop-iness of which excelled in a gentler soundscape. Smiles were brought to my face by the audience participation in July, then hearing What’s The Point In Life and considering how the track had led me to this unexpected event.

As someone who’s never been taken by the idea of signed merch, I didn’t queue for the signing desk, but it was great to see the band having such positive interactions with their fanbase, with most stopping for photos.

With an undoubtedly longer and heavier visit to Rescue Rooms on the cards for later this month, it’s likely that I’ll be spending more time with Coach Party after a promising warm up.