The Pretty Eggs | Thick Richard | The Bug Membership | Violet Malice | AK/DK | Well mannered Bureaux
Brudenell Social Membership, Leeds
twenty fifth October 2025
The Pretty Eggs take over the Brudenell Social Membership for a day of twentieth anniversary celebrations. Andy Brown joins the celebration for Louder Than Conflict.
In an surprising plot twist, the solar has made a uncommon look in West Yorkshire, simply in time for the arrival The Pretty Eggs. To have fun 20 eggstraordinary years, the psychedelic punk duo have cooked up an all-day eggstravaganza brimful of music, poetry and – if we’re fortunate – a little bit little bit of bingo. Oh, they do know easy methods to spoil us. This isn’t The Brudenell Social Membership anymore… that is Eggland.
It’s solely half three within the afternoon however we’re quickly thrust into the spirit of a Saturday night time with the arrival of Well mannered Bureaux. The Bradford-born band kick issues off with a punk-goes-clubbing banger stuffed with filthy guitars and head-bobbing bass. Singer – {and professional} afternoon raver – Joseph Smith leads the cost with some profanity-laden provocations. I haven’t been awake all that lengthy so that is precisely what the physician ordered.
It may be a double-edged sword getting the opening spot on an all-dayer however the dance-punk 4-piece isn’t holding something again. Besides Your Skint sounds just like the apocalypse whereas a music devoted to the M606 may be the second-best music I’ve ever heard a couple of motorway (I imply, nothing beats John Shuttleworth). Different highlights embody the nostalgic electro-poetry of Bradford and the pissed-off Pulp of Damaged Biscuits.
Subsequent up, we’re caught within the path of a psychedelic, electro-punk tidal wave courtesy of AK/ DK. Killer synth riffs and thunderous drums propel us into the late afternoon as the gang nod alongside in hypnotised approval. Simply once you suppose the duo can’t probably go any more durable, they crank up the depth with some heavy and superbly synchronised double drums. Each members gleefully misplaced within the completely ecstatic bombardment of sound.
In a bid to take issues up a notch, the duo invitations Thick Richard to the stage. “No rehearsals, no soundcheck, no mercy,” the poet warns us earlier than they launch into the apathy-baiting mega-rant No person Shouts (it’s so good I purchase the 7” on the merch stall, on which Richard lovingly inscribes the phrases ‘fuck you’). By the top of the set, there’s blood on one of many keyboards. Sweat, blood and bangers. What extra would you like?
Now, it might probably’t be the best of gigs studying poetry to a Saturday night time crowd however – and I can’t stress this sufficient – Violet Malice owns the stage from the very second she steps out. Together with her poker face firmly affixed, Malice dryly drawls each filthy phrase and uncensored thought. Wordsworth would by no means dare.
Each stanza is filled with sarcasm, innuendo and an uncomfortable quantity of element. Offal, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and the inappropriate use of a hearth escape… it’s all right here. It’s humorous, obscene and obscenely humorous. The poem she created for a followers companion – on their request – is abominably sensible. Suffice to say, we’re within the palm of her arms.
In a twist that will solely occur at a Pretty Eggs all-dayer, all of us get to play a little bit little bit of bingo hosted by a hilariously reluctant Thick Richard and the Eggs very personal Holly Ross. There’s even a quite beneficiant hamper to win by way of the vegetarian meat free raffle. Now that’s leisure.
After endearing themselves to the gang by way of an impromptu soundcheck sing-along, it’s time for a set from The Bug Membership. Regardless of the thrill I’m unfamiliar with the band’s oeuvre, but from the beginning the trio’s chemistry is completely magnetic. The sort of indie pop allure meets rock ‘n’ roll swagger that jogs my memory of The Wave Footage. Significantly, the place have I been all this time?
Highlights embody the over-excited giddiness of Twirling In The Center, a music about wanting a bit like James Bond and the sensible, melancholic pop of Acceptable Feelings, which bassist Tilly Harris describes because the closet the band has to a ballad. I hear somebody whistling Greatest Trying Strangers In The Cemetery in the bathroom shortly after the set. All the time a praise. What an ideal introduction.
“I’ve come to do some horrible, shouty fucking poetry for you,” Thick Richard explains earlier than breaking right into a poem devoted to, “all of the dickheads.” Mentioned poem features a quite memorable put-down as he talks about somebody that, “makes your racist uncle sound like fucking Confucius.” Attempt pulling that one out on the subsequent household gathering. Each poem is livid, foul-mouthed and extremely humorous.
Amongst numerous household favourites, we get the dying obsessed genius of The New Voodoo Funeral Blues and a quite disgusting – but academic – poem known as The Evening Of The Lengthy Egg. If all this wasn’t sufficient, he’s additionally introduced alongside a barely unnerving puppet of Gregg Wallace. Effectively, it’s practically Halloween. All of it ends with a cheery little poem about imminent nuclear apocalypse.
“Oh, the pleasure/ Oh, the ache/ Simply to go on tour with you once more,” sings The Pretty Eggs vocalist Holly Ross as she makes her means on stage. It’s a little bit melancholy music known as Minibus that feels completely apt for tonight’s celebration; marking – because it does – 20 years of travelling across the nation in a little bit white van. Mere moments later and Ross – accompanied by drummer, husband and normal companion in crime – David Blackwell are tearing into some fuzz-laden psych-punk.
Over time, the duo have constructed a DIY empire of egg and tonight’s anniversary is a little bit of a milestone for band and fan alike. I bear in mind singing alongside to Fuck It within the previous video games room at this very venue many moons in the past and – as a newly indoctrinated devotee – feeling like this was the beginning of one thing extraordinarily eggceptional (apologies however egg-based puns are just about obligatory at this level). Tonight looks like all these years whisked into one; an indie psych-punk omelette, if you’ll.
The duo delves deep into their bag of methods with a setlist that goes from psych-punk barn-burners to anthemic outsider anthems and indie pop oddities. Individuals Are Twats – one of many first songs I heard by the band – by no means fails to lift a smile whereas the mighty Magic Onion is as exhilarating as ever. Have You Ever Heard A Digital Accordion is an utter pleasure and needs to be one of many best questions requested by way of a pop music. It additionally occurs to be the only real cause that I’ve learn Richard Brautigan.
At one level, Ross talks about how the band do their very own admin and tells us about an uncommon e-mail she acquired from a fan known as Alan. Mentioned e-mail contained the – apparently uncommon – picture of a crab resting upon some bracket fungi. She proceeds handy the picture out into the gang; who then take it upon themselves to start out chanting “Alan”. Being a Pretty Eggs fan actually is like being a part of a wierd however very cool membership. I wager there’s diddly-squat about crab and fungi associated emails at a Weapons & Roses gig.
The likes of Large Sea and I Simply Need Somebody To Fall In Love With present the bands knack for a big-hearted indie anthem whereas Fuck It stays one of the reassuring and cathartic singalongs in existence. It’s simple to overlook simply what number of cult indie anthems this duo have produced and because the life-affirming tones of Wiggy Giggy reverberate by means of the gang – unlocking beforehand embargoed reserves of serotonin – the world looks like a greater place. Comfortable anniversary, you fantastic Eggs!
~
Foremost picture: Darren Andrews
The Pretty Eggs could be discovered on their web site, Fb, Instagram and Bandcamp
Take heed to music by The Bug Membership, AK/DK and Well mannered Bureaux on Bandcamp
Discover Thick Richard and Violet Malice on Instagram
All phrases by Andy Brown. You’ll be able to go to his writer profile and skim extra of his evaluations for Louder Than Conflict HERE
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