On stage
9 April 2022
Where/when: Trix, Antwerp – 8 April 2022
Band: MEMES
Who: A noisy Glasgow duo called John and Paul, not that John and Paul,
obviously. As band name John Paul II would be ridiculous, they called
themselves MEMES. Turn Up The Volume is a fan since day one.
MEMES‘ gig was actually an aftershow one, following Irish fury Fontaines D.C.
who turned the main hall upside down. And, that’s exactly what this 2-motor
turbo did too in the big building’s bar. One should think that the audience, after
almost 90 minutes of those Dublin heroes, would be too tired or too drunk, or
both, to be bothered to let their minds blow up again by two Scottish noiseniks.
Wrong, within a minute the bar was packed. And rightly so.
John and Paul rocked their sweaty tails off with their bloodcurdling hullabaloo that guarantees them a place in my British post-punk-rebirth team along with young indie gunslingers like Yard Act, Crows, Ditz, Lice, Black Midi and The Mysterines.
The Glaswegian tandem’s sharp-teethed and politically/socially outspoken uppercuts
like Blah-Blah (their prickly debut single), So What, and newest smack Second Thought cook your brains and your ears on the spot. Oh my, oh my, do I love 30-minute blitzkrieg gigs without brakes and breaks (except when the digital drummer is a bit stubborn).
One Meme down
As you may expect you don’t get birds and bees tunes from these two mavericks, although in the end they know and we know, that we all need to Cheer Up in these bloody messy times in order to survive. That’s what Antwerp did, that’s what I did (on stage), we all cheered up. Thanks MEMES, for turning up our adrenalin production.
Check their debut EP here…
Thanks for the shout-out, guys!!
(concert photos by Turn Up The Volume)
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