A sea of mullets and cigarette smoke greeted us as we arrived at the venue on a very rainy Saturday night. This, in my opinion, was a sure sign of a great show. In the heart of Norwich, Voodoo Daddy’s is an eccentric dive bar nestled among various shops cafes and bars, much like the trinkets on the shelf inside the restaurant. The venue’s top level was crowded, and my friend and I had trouble locating the door to “the showroom”.
We were fortunate enough to catch ‘Max Fulcrum & the Win’, an eclectic mix of experimental sounds, including wind instruments (I won’t insult the band with my lack of knowledge and assume it was a flute). The collective served as the perfect prelude to the main event.
Cheers erupted from the back to the front of the room as Pleasure Inc. took the stage, and a memorable homecoming gig followed. Beginning the set with ‘Croissant’, the audience was fired up from this classic track and eager to hear songs from their new EP ‘Plastic People’, released just last week. The love for the band in their home city was evident in the crowd’s reception of the new songs – especially the namesake of the EP and earlier released single ‘2:45’. Sonically, the band has multiple influences – from the greats of 90s Britpop to Eminem – the latter expressed in a cover of ‘Without Me’, the audience and band both screaming the lyrics (despite self-professed struggling vocals from lead singer under the alias Jonny Silver, after a long week of touring the country).
A standout track for me has to be ‘DissCo’, reminding me simultaneously of the sounds of Blur and Talking Heads, all with the band’s trademark funky basslines and erratic synths. And with their swift return to the venue next week (sponsored by Fred Perry and iconic Norwich clothing store Dogfish) this certainly won’t be the last we hear from the band.
