Pic by Loreana Rushe

Noise is great. Hands up who likes noise? And I mean proper, loud noise. Like the dizzying, distorted blast of chart techno you hear every time you hurl toward the centre of a trashy fairground ride, or the endless thunder of a waterfall up close. It quickens the blood; its powerful and cathartic. Times New Viking know this. The American three-piece (one girl, two guys) are all about noise, and tonight they bring it to Andrew’s Lane Theatre.

Before the onslaught all is quiet. When the band take the stage there is a funny muted feeling in the air. Its a Monday evening and, frankly, not many people have turned up. People stand around in clusters. The band tune up quietly. In fact they are so unassuming in doing this that there isn’t a clap or holler until they actually start to play, making me wonder if people initially thought they were sound technicians or some such. I fear the worst; a damp squib of a gig to a half empty venue. But then they play, and the torrential sound they make is so raw, so electrifying, that any such doubts are rinsed away in minutes, and replaced by a euphoric blood-rush brought on by this scuzzy, fucked up, yet utterly melodic pop.

Times New Viking don’t just do noise. They also do brevity. Tonight, the songs come ridiculously hard and fast. Tunes pile violently into each other like a twenty-car pile up on the M50, and the audience gape on like thrilled rubberneckers. Throughout, drummer Adam Elliot and Keyboardist Beth Murphy share vocals, most excitingly on (My Head) which ends on the demented chant “we need more money/ ‘cos we need more drugs”. His voice is viciously distorted, a ragged howl to match the mangled interplay between Murphy’s keyboard and Jared Philip’s guitar, both of which manage to sound like an entire army of banjaxed instruments. In fact, what is most impressive about the band tonight is how they manage to coax such a great wall of sound from a keyboard, a guitar and a drum-kit.

At around forty minutes the gig is aptly short and intense, but it satisfies. I’m left with a bigger shit-eating grin than a Cheshire cat and the conviction that Times New Viking are one of the most thrilling bands going. If they come back and play again, I hope its to a bigger crowd. They deserve it.

Darragh McCausland is saving up all of his pocket money to send off to Guided by Voices so they reunite.
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