CityLife

The Rascals

MERSEYSIDE three-piece ‘The Rascals’ have a truly haunting, sinister edge.

The Ruby Lounge itself is the perfect venue for such a menacingly dark performance, looking and sounding like a seedy old strip venue from the outside.

Luckily once inside the lounge reveals itself to be a uniquely intimate yet highly classy place to be with a great sound system.

The Rascals too on the surface appear to be a simple gritty, dark, and slightly uninteresting retro outfit.

Never judge a book by its cover, once the surface has been more than scratched this trio prove themselves too be a highly classy act with a great sound.

What is essentially missing is the unique quality. It’s difficult to write a review of this band without mentioning ‘The Last Shadow Puppets’.

Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys fame and Miles Kane created a much more impressive and unique collaborative album using exactly the same idea behind The Rascals' debut Rascalize.

As a result the material played tonight lacks spark, failing to grasp the audience from start to finish.

‘Out of Dreams’ is a frantic gallop back to the sixties.

‘Bond Girl’ too is packed with unabashed aggression. It’s refreshing to hear the en vogue retro Beatles sound done so well.

Proud of

‘Does Your Husband Know That You’re On The Run?’ comes across as a brazen slice of antiquity ‘The Coral’ could be proud of.

‘Freakbeat Phantom’ is a spookily atmospheric piece of darkness.

The problem is ‘Last Shadow Puppets’ did it all so much better.

While each song dully blends into the next it’s hard to watch the gig without wishing Kane’s other band was onstage.

During the encores, dark gritty songs are abandoned in an attempt to gain a more favourable reaction from a crowd who had previously been bouncing to the reggae-influenced support band ‘Kid British’.

The more upbeat ‘All You Need Is Love’ gets a great response and gives a nod to the Merseysider’s biggest influences.

As a finale Slade’s ‘Merry Christmas Everybody’ is adopted and sung brilliantly with the rasping vocals of Kane matching those of Noddy Holder himself.

The group manage to go out on a high with the audience singing every word back at Kane with exuberance. In future ‘The Rascals’ will be hoping for a similar response to some of their own material.

What did you think of their set? Have your say.

Tweet