Nottingham’s very own Cucamaras return home for two intimate, back-to-back shows at The Carousel…
Four-piece post-punk band Cucamaras are one of the best things to come out of Notts since the word mardy. They have taken the local scene by storm since they started making music four years ago, and if there’s one thing their ever-growing fanbase can agree on, these guys bring something entirely new to the table. With their gritty, wirey sound - and a reputation for raucous live performances - it’s no wonder that listeners new and old flocked to The Carousel to revel in the shared chaos.
The dust finally settled following the mid-year release of their latest EP Buck Rogers Time, only to be stirred up and disrupted again by Joe Newton’s big, booming drum beat. The lads kick things off with Death of the Social, a post-punk, garage-rock-inspired track from their 2022 EP Soft Soap. As the electric melody creeps in with a vengeance, Olly Bowley swoops in with his spoken-vernacular-style vocals. The lead vocalist has an unwavering directness to his vocal style, with a satisfyingly ironic undertone - an essential requirement for a great frontman. If you’ve ever been on Stealth at Thorpe Park, this track is a bit like that, in the sense that it goes from nought to eighty miles per hour in seconds. The band succumbs to their own mayhem; the prominent guitar melody blaring like a siren. It was the perfect opening track to the set, serving as both an invitation and a warning for what was to follow.
The band do not stop to dwell upon their post-punk-inspired sound, transitioning quickly into Wilmslow Storm Warning: a more recent track with the essence of indie-rock at its core. They continue on the same trajectory with Keep It Cool, their crowd-favourite single from 2020. It’s interesting to see that the indie-rock genre seems to straddle the band’s musical journey, finding resonances in the very beginnings of their discography, as well as their recent tracks. However, to reduce Cucamaras to any one genre would be a disservice; these guys are experimentalists by nature - a truth reflected in their meandering setlist.
Keep It Cool and Window Seat feel like natural partners, both tracks saturated with a feel-good, golden haze. Throughout the latter track, Dan McGrath lifted spirits with his groovy baseline, enough to make even the Grinch’s heart grow three sizes. Speaking of which, no mid-December set would be complete without a cheesy Christmas sing-along. The band perform a somewhat faithful rendition of Wham’s Last Christmas, taking turns to don a fur-trimmed Santa hat. Co-vocalist Josh Hart took the reigns on this one, punctuating each line with his shrieking laugh.
Cucamaras up the ante for their closing tracks Bleacher’s Yard and Winner’s Chapel. A collection of cathartic, crashing cymbals wreak havoc upon a cascading electric melody. Winner’s Chapel is a show-stopping track in every sense of the word, inspiring a joy-fuelled rage amongst the crowd. After all, moshing with strangers is what Christmas is all about.
Cucamaras performed at The Carousel on the 8th and 9th of December 2023.
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