DRASTIC//AUTOMATIC Live at Sidney and Matilda
By Libby Driscoll
After a quadruple threat of thunderous releases since May 2022, Drastic//Automatic return to Sheffield staple Sidney and Matilda to play their sold-out headline with Jarred Up.
Photo: @jacob_flannery_
As the courtyard slowly starts to fill in the early evening and the gig goers grab their drinks, first up in the 80-cap venue is four-piece Kynch. In between flirtatious stares and amorous dancing between the frontman and guitarist rattled the sound of a band caught up in the indie-rock whir of the mid-noughties. The frontman’s Caleb Followill-esque (Kings of Leon) vocals paired with compositions dying to be part of The Inbetweeners soundtrack certainly offered to fill the child-shaped hole of being too young to see these kinds of bands live at the time. Though the tracks felt reminiscent of a genre long gone, they were ultimately a really fun group of lads to watch live. Spicing up their set with a cover of Frankie Valley’s The Night, the group seamlessly showed their ability to switch it up between the lax nature of happy-chappy indie rock and soulfully performing a more renowned classic.
As the venue fills a little more, Flat Stanley follow and take their place on the stage. Flat Stanley are a band I’ve heard numerous promising things about through the grapevine, but hadn’t yet been fortunate enough to catch until now, so I must admit I was expecting big things and holy shit did they deliver. Imagine the love child of Echo and the Bunnymen and Alvvays meets Talking Heads, and chuck a saxophone in the mix too. Based on the intricacy of the performance, I assumed these guys must have been way into their mid twenties, but it wasn’t until after the gig I learned that the eldest member of the six-piece is in fact only 19 years old.
Each component of the performance formed an incredible wave of atmospheric intrigue. Thick with effects, there wasn’t a moment of their performance that hadn't been taken into consideration; each break within a song's structure had been carefully decorated with sax, synth, harmonies or harmonica, shaping the interludes as pillars strong as the verses and choruses. If you haven’t had a chance to catch these guys yet, I seriously recommend you jump at the opportunity next time you see their name on a poster.
Photo: @jacob_flannery_
As the crowd piles back into the venue from the courtyard once more, the crowd are instructed to grab a pair of paper 3D glasses, complete with blue and red lenses and D//A crudely written on the side with marker pen. The audience ready with their newly gifted accessories, the headliners waste no time in jumping into The Cup Final, which Hession dedicates to Sheffield Uni’s Music Culture society who fill up a good portion of the room. With the growing popularity of the boys, the rustling of phones being pulled out of pockets emerged as the audience digitally captures the performance of their highest streamed song so far. The crunchy soundwaves from the stage ripple into the sea of swaying shoulders and bobbing heads echoing the chants of Hession; ‘The cup final // on vinyl // that shit’s so cool // just like Rik Mayall’.
As the gig progresses, the energy of the band accelerates with the roar of a rattling exhaust fighting its way through the dirt track. Referencing Echo and the Bunnymen in Ravenscourt Park 2004 the slurred cockney growl of ‘lips like sugar, sugar kisses’ blesses us with an uncanny nod to our indie-teen phase that’s been chewed up and spat back out in an addictive new ego. Followed by a familiar and charged reception to Bluetooth, bassist Sissy Green then introduces the audience to a change of pace. Overturning the concrete blocks of manic post-punk, D//A displays their softer side in 6/8 time. Exuding a similar mood to the tracks of King Krule’s ‘6 Feet Beneath the Moon’, the bouncing waves of the audience calm into a gentle ebb and flow, swayed by the melancholic beat of the rhythm section.
As the calm recedes, the knock of Wilson’s cowbell hints at another throwback and with the second cover of the night, the band play their unique rendition of Nelly Futardo’s Say it Right; the post cover I didn’t know we needed until now. Despite the element of humour in their unconventional choice, the trio breathe a new lease of life into the track, reminding us just why we fell in love with the track the first time round, many moons ago.
Photo: @jacob_flannery_
Returning to what they do best, D//A give us one final sprint of their signature sound before finishing on their debut release, ‘A Smash Hit for the People’. The audience continuing to sing and sway along one last time, it safe to say the reception they received certainly shows they’ve created a very comfortable following for themselves around Sheffield.
Though they’re known for their manic energy and sporadic wobbles of flange and crashing fuzz, the trio showed us another layer to their organised chaos tonight. It’s easy to forget when acts are notorious for their DIY and post-punk aesthetic, but it’s moments like this where you realise ‘holy sh*t, there are actual musicians under there’. The gig well and truly captured the romance of the DIY scene - 80 people squeezed into what could arguably be compared to a large shed, wearing cardboard glasses and having an all round dope time. It proves that we don’t need anything more than a cold room and live music to put on a decent gig, but when the band is as unique and despairingly engaging as Drastic//Automatic, it sure does help cement that good old punky romance.