Wild Flag live in London
- By Ian Barber -
- Feb 03, 2012
Making my way to Camden's Electric Ballroom I was a little unsure what to expect of Wild Flag - a sort of Portland, Oregon based indie super group composed of Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss formerly of Sleater Kinney, Mary Timony from Helium and Rebecca Cole from The Minders. Their eponymous debut was a great record, and each band member has plenty of touring credentials, but would that chemistry carry over onto the stage, and sustain enough energy for their first UK tour?
Former Red Room contributors Peggy Sue opened the show with a selection of songs mostly from their second album, 'Acrobats'. A good sized crowd had come in from the cold in time to see them play and were well served through to the closing 'Cut My Teeth'. The driving, almost mechanical drum lines and folkish harmonies on tracks like 'There Always Was' mixed well with angrier, buzzing guitar tracks, and perfectly complemented the wintery conditions outside. Heavy enough to keep the crowd happy, the band were clearly enjoying the tour, chatting about trying to emulate Wild Flag's on stage style: "We tried a double kick during sound check, it was awful."
After warming up the now very busy room, Peggy Sue made way for the main event. Carrie Brownstein literally kicked off the set as Wild Flag dropped into loud-quiet-loud opener 'Black Tiles', the crowd pushing forward as Timony and Brownstein traded riffs. Janet Weiss kept the set moving, counting in the next track as the final feedback of the last were still fading, and the band cycled through the songs from their debut, while occasionally dropping in a new one. The cohesiveness and chemistry from the record was present in a spades on stage, and once the gig had progressed enough there was even a bit of banter with the audience, about Stephen Fry (getting a surprisingly muted reaction from the crowd) and PJ Harvey (better regarded).
When Wild Flag really click is in songs like 'Glass Tambourine' that provide a framework for them to just get into it and jam; Janet throwing rolls of thunderous percussion, Carrie swaying slightly, hair flopped over her eyes tearing licks out of her jet black Guild S-100, Mary with one foot up on the monitor staring out into space and Rebecca wailing into the mic while shooting swirls of organ over the proceedings. The sound was heavy, evolving, organic and totally mesmerising. They finished the set with the faintly silly 'Racehorse', complete with exceedingly catchy "we're in the money" refrain, only to add on a massive solo at the end complete with a full dose of rock histrionics, Brownstein holding her guitar aloft like a talisman to Rock.
As the band left the stage I couldn't help but compare their mix of punkish sensibilities with the almost proggy extended solos to Television, only for Wild Flag to walk back out in the encore and drop into a dead-on cover of 'See No Evil', as a shout out to their label apparently.
I expected the performance to be about Carrie, but I was wrong - the vocals and riffs are traded back as forth between Timony and Brownstein, both equally comfortable in either role, and while Carrie Brownstein may be one of the best guitarists playing today, Timony is no slouch. I expected Janet Weiss' driving rhythms to push the set along, but I didn't expect how much of a contribution to the rhythm section Rebecca Cole's keys would make, or how well all the elements would coalesce into one sound. Judging by the strength of this show, and the grins on the faces of the people leaving the venue, Wild Flag are more than worth braving the cold for.
By Ian Barber. Tweets at @ianbarber
