Howler with Man Made and Kutosis @ Buffalo Bar

For a much hyped band like Howler, the Buffalo bar in Cardiff is not the kind of venue you would expect for them. The awkward shape and relatively small size of the upstairs live music area draped in red is where you might expect to see Cardiff bands like Kutosis with their hardcore local fans or the strange solo act of Man Made but the headliner for this occasion was a rare sight. Still, both act and venue performed exceptionally for an entertaining event.

Kutosis kicked of proceedings very much in the way that you would expect a Howler support act to play. A slightly different take on it, but definitely guitar based indie rock. However, this changed quickly to become the math rock stylings of a band you can see supporting the similarly biased Truckers of Husk and Gallops in March. Jagged guitars with a stop-start-jump rhythm, this is a band that would be at home playing late afternoon in a small tent at Reading with obsessed fans leaping about singing "devro! devro!". I might even join them. Their frantic enthusiasm was demonstrated ably by the fact that they kept breaking the strings on their guitars and it made for a memorable and fun start to the evening.

Man Made graced the stage next although the subdued start left many people in the crowd wondering if it was just a roadie with good lighting. Unfortunately this solo electric guitar player did not leave much more of an impression than that. A lot of the act resembled a lonely one man Placebo tribute act, in vocals, lyrics and guitar playing (when it didn't sound like bedroom strumming) but with none of the complexity. Perhaps he can be complimented on the amount accomplished with a limited amount of ingredients but the biggest case was for him to swap places with Kutosis on the billing, or just stay home.

Within seconds of Howler starting their set all the Strokes comparisons became a lot more obvious that on the album. But it wasn't long before the uncoordinated thrashing of surf rock became all encompassing and encouraged room wide jigging about. Halfway through the set and each song starts to sound like their strongest and the band, along with everyone else, is visibly having a great time. Their best songs are arrestingly recognisable and perfectly performed, they make none of the mistakes of Kutosis and only reach any sort of boring once, and only briefly. At the height of the performance all they are playing sounds familiar, as if you have been waiting to see them live for years. Whether this is because of effortless copy-catting or simply the catchy and fun elements that are embedded in the album, is unclear. What is incredibly clear is that Surfer Blood have competition for the throne of the surf rock revival king. Oh and I should mention their highly offensive, inappropriate and hilarious stage banter. These guys know what they are doing.

You can read my review of Howler's debut album, America Give Up, here.