In their hometown of Coventry, rock/indie band The Mucks brought the house down on the HMV Empire with an electrifying, rocking set that all but confirms they’re a band built for an exciting future.
After arriving at the venue and meeting the band, it was clear they wore their inspiration on their sleeves, as we chatted away prior to the support acts warming the crowd up, their roster of pre-show tunes painted a clear picture of their musical influences.
First up on the warm act circuit was The Publics, a mansfield based quintet of indie rockers, closely followed by west midlands based Lydon’s it was clear that the british indie rock craze of the late 00’s/early 2010s is going to primed to make a comeback in a big way.
With both bands playing a mix of covers and original songs the crowd were palpable and ready for a performance from their homegrown indie rock band to kick start their weekend.
As expected, they absolutely smashed it. There was a buzz of excitement from all the band members in the final few seconds before they assembled stage to a rapturous applause. Each member smiling gleefully as they knew they were about to perform one of their biggest, and possibly most important shows to date.
The crowd only got louder as front-man ‘Dunny’ sprinted on stage to start the set and really get the crowd pumped. Similar to their warm up acts, The Mucks performed a mixture of their own songs and covers, including an incredible cover of “We’ll Live And Die In These Towns” by another Coventry created rock band The Enemy.
Things took a slower pace in the middle of the set for a brief stint with guitarist Scott taking a seat on stool and swapping electric for acoustic. The crowd were then whipped into an exhilarating frenzy for the second half of the gig as the energy was cranked to 11 with sing alongs, barrier surfing and a thrilling finale with Fin, front man of the Lydon’s, joining the band on stage to complete an excellent headline show.
With a handful of newly dropped singles available on Spotify for The Publics (“Gaslighter” and “Red Flag Verified”) and The Mucks (“If I Believe”), and their imminent debut single release for Lydon’s (“Tongue”), it’s proving to be an exciting time to be an indie rock band in the midlands and I’m very excited to see what the future holds for each of them.
Words + Photos by Sam Huntley
