London
8 April 2022
Waiting for The Eggs to show, I notice singer / guitarist Holly Ross‘s Selmer Treble and Bass valve amp, on top of a double-miked cab. This, along with David Blackwell’s extensive drum set on the other side of the stage, all looks very serious indeed. Unfortunately, I cant quite see Holly’s pedals.
Since I am ignorant of The Lovely Eggs prior to the show, once they are onstage, I notice several things quite quickly. The band occupy a niche somewhere in the fuzztopiaverse, propelling a mostly abrasive but somehow warm wall of sound along. The rhythm pounds me through my spine as I crouch on the stairs to the stage taking pictures.
While Holly’s guitar sound is very large, there is also some kind of synth aspect to their sound also : she seems to be triggering loops / melodies with her foot at the start of tracks. This augments the sound, and although live, it’s a bit lost under the main voicing of the drums and guitar and vocals. Holly utilises an authentic vocal style – visually I am reminded of Toyah Wilcox, although sonically more of My Bloody Valentine –which can go to a primal scream at times, underpinned by the raw power of her urgent, distorted Fender Jaguar, and David’s heavy, insistent rhythm section (he also does vocals, although these are lower in the mix, mostly). Their songs often concern the pulp (fiction) minutiae of the life of ordinary people; the adolescent, teenage kicks with long, long half-lives, and their lack of pretension, accompanied by their sincere engagement with the audience with footballs, drug anecdotes and photography, are playful and refreshing; as is their music: “The pigeons eat chicken from the streets that you’re sick in”; marvellous. I am reminded of Slade as much as The Fall or Sleaford Mods. Come on feel the noise.Lovely. The Lovely Eggs.
-Ben Guiver-
