Fat Dog @The Fulford Arms, York, May 6th 2024 (LIVE REVIEW)
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| Credit: Tom White |
London quintet Fat Dog have bemused and frustrated some dull press types because they can't be neatly popped into their tidy little boxes of shiny new bands. London quintet Fat Dog have outraged some fans of other bands when they supported certain acts on tour recently and basically blew their headliners off the stage. London quintet Fat Dog have been causing quite a bit of a stir it’s fair to say. Is it a serious jaunt into the world of rock and roll or are they just having a bit of a laugh (at our expense?). I don’t really know, and don’t really care. It’s an infectious racket and it needs to be heard.
Fulford Arms’ (sold out) crowd waste no time diving straight into the chaos on a May bank holiday Monday. The buzz is real, and Fat Dog’s noise live is hypnotising. I was sceptical around their ability to recreate the tunes live but things have evidently improved massively in that area. They’re not the first of course to create a fusion of skewed punk fury and synth-heavy dance beats, yet they have emerged with something both refreshingly new and anarchically familiar.
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| Credit: Tom White |
It’s all held together (just) by the man in the centre, Joe Love, who must have quite the collection of hat ware, sporting a fur lined dear stalker tonight. Because y’ know, it’s that cold in here, right?! How the drummer thrashes at the skins for an hour inside a German Shepherd dog mask is anyone’s guess. Love walks among the crowd, and seems to play well within his capabilities as he whips up a frenzy with little need for any of your usual band-crowd theatrics. We oblige the tried and tested crouch-down-low-ready-to-jump-up-in-unison a couple of times, but above all, we, they, everyone just wants to dance. The less informed among us of course know the three songs that are out in the wild. ‘All The Same’ and ‘King of The Slugs’ see ageing men throwing shapes in amongst the cool kids. There are songs that don’t even have full titles yet (hold your tears journo’s) unless Bassy One and Peace Song, make the final cut, and latest release ‘Running’ signal’s time is sadly up for Fulford.
The debut album is due to drop in September and Summer looks set to be a sweaty affair for the band. Clear up after Fat Dog somewhere near you soon.
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