Future of the Left
– THE ROADHOUSE, MANCHESTER –
Andrew ‘Falco’ Falkous is an angry man. The Future of the Left singer is not only responsible for some of the best straight up rock music this country has produced in the last decade, but also a misanthropic outpouring that could make Charlie Brooker blush.
Tonight the welsh band hit The Roadhouse, and while it’s a little bigger than their last outing at Soup Kitchen it’s nowhere near the following the band deserve.
The band create the sort of sound you’d usually only hear Stateside, with more than a nod to the likes of Shellac and At the Drive-in. Impressive as this raw, hard-core rock is, it is when Falco invites you into his modern life dystopia that they really shine. Just a snippet of ‘Singing of the Bonesaws’ is enough to infer that ‘paedophiles run the bbc’ while ‘You Need Satan More Than He Needs You’ poses the kind of rhetoric that is the basis of a future Channel 4 documentary – ‘what kind of orgy leaves a sense of deeper love?’.
The crowd hangs on every word and scream many right back, no doubt fuelled by the array of catchy hooks. It takes a charismatic leader to have otherwise balanced individuals shouting “Violence Solved Everything” over and over.
Further cause to cherish FOTL is their Half Man Half Biscuit-esque sense of humour. Never more evident than in ‘Robocop 4 – Fuck Off Robocop’, a sideswipe at cinema sequels during which a hypothetical Pirates of the Caribbean 47 discusses a robotic Johnny Depp losing his wife in a game of poker only to try to win her back with ‘hilarious consequences’.
‘French Lessons‘ slows the pace and shows that the band are capable of more than unrelenting rock music. Consistent though is the irreverent glance at the world from Falkous, as he suggests ‘marry yourself to an orphan girl and overcompensate on her birthday’.
While Falco is undeniably the star of the show, he couldn’t be without an excellent band onstage. Bass player Julia Ruzicka showcases her prowess on the menacing Beneath The Waves An Ocean while drummer Jack Egglestone pummels his kit ferociously throughout . The bands tightness is all the more impressive given they are joined by a stand in guitarist as usual axeman Jimmy Watkins was busy with his day job.
Just over an hour of blistering rock, acerbic humour and forthright hostility and FOTL are done. The temporary decline in the popularity of guitar music has no doubt impacted on the potential audience for the welsh band but when the problems of the country are deconstructed with such style, it’s a crying shame more aren’t here to hear it.
Future of The Left Official | Facebook | Twitter
Features Editor and gig reviewer
