Narc. Magazine Online
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Chloe Glover enjoys a night of playful slacker rock and pop punk
Image: Lauran Hibberd by Emily Marcovecchio
What happens if you mix an old kipper smokehouse with three quick-witted, female-fronted slacker rock and pop punk bands and a pizza sandwich? A whole lot of fun on an autumnal school night, it turns out.
Lauran Hibberd, bigfatbig and Ugly Ozo brought topical issues packaged in tongue-in-cheek humour and livewire energy to an eager crowd at Three Tanners Bank, as part of Hibberd’s Bring Your Own Girlfriend tour of her second album, Girlfriend Material.
Fellow Isle of Wight doom-gaze duo Ugly Ozo offered up a cathartic blast of noisy alt. rock soundtracked tales of revenge and betrayal. Fronted by Jess Baker, bassist for and best pal of Hibberd, they set the tone for the night.
Second support, Sunderland pop punk trio bigfatbig, charmed the crowd with songs from debut EP Rippin’ It, weaving in themes of friendship, love and capitalist rot in a delightfully energetic fashion.
Travelling the length of the country to be here, Lauran Hibberd bolstered her local cult fan base. Effortlessly playfully connecting with the crowd and welcoming jokey audience interaction (“What’s good in North Shields?”, “Well, it’s got an Asda.”) and scoring on-request boos for songs mentioning her ex-boyfriend, Hibberd felt like she could be your friend.
Thrashing out her bright, wry and intelligent garage rock takes on songs about figuring out life and generating an impromptu all-crowd dance routine to her cover of Chappell Roan’s Hot To Go, she gave a show that was relatable, uplifting and frankly, just what we need in this messy, confusing old world.
