Liverpool’s latest upcoming rock outfit put on a hometown celebration of all things queer, and give an incredible night out in the process.
It’s your standard Saturday night on Liverpool’s Ropewalks; people are flooding into the city for a good night out, and even before the doors had opened to the basement venue of EBGBs, people were flooding out onto Seel Street from the Heebie Jeebies club above ground. Perhaps that’s why a sense of excited revelry permeated even the queue waiting to watch the upcoming concert, or perhaps it was because the concert-goers knew about the sheer quality of all of the acts on display that evening.
Part way through their tour with Dub War, the original project of Skindred’s Benji Webbe that reformed last year, Liverpool based five-piece Gen and the Degenerates elected to stage a headline show with supports from fellow Liverpool based musical outfits Dead Animals and Maybank, set in one of the central venues of the Liverpool alternative scene; a rough and ready 200 capacity basement venue where the stage is on level with the floor, barricades and security guards decked out in high-vis notable in their absence.
And given the steady rise of the Degenerates across the pass few years, it’s not hard to imagine that you won’t be catching this rag-tag bunch of punkish rockers playing such intimate venues for much longer. Last year saw the release of their fantastic debut EP, ‘Only Alive When In Motion’, along with a single capping off the year in the form of Sapphic banger ‘My Perfect’. Their style has shifted from a simpler blues rock style to a far harder, less-compromising blend of post-punk and pop-punk, translating as big songs with big choruses and even bigger attitude.
The crowd that had gathered were decked out in a vast array of fantastic alternative fashion, and a genuine sense of community hovered over them as groups of friends, fans of the local music scene, and dedicated concert-goers congregated as if they all had known one another for years. It leads to a vibrant atmosphere and a venue that is already half-full by the time the first act, Dead Animals, takes to the stage.
Fronted by Nate Reid, backed by an assembly of musicians that have formed a solid live performing group, the outfit engulf the stage with a spell-binding gothic performance that is fantastically over-the-top and impossible to ignore; Reid is made up with extensive eyeliner and casts a monstrous figure in the dim light of the club, their vocal tones sounding as Bowie as they do Curtis.
It’s only a short set, but within that time, they’ve managed to whip up something of a storm within the first few rows of the crowd, and even those at the back, notably harder to please with their arms crossed, are unable to peel their eyes away from the stage for too long. The blend of 80’s post-punk with the brooding elements that you might expect from Nine Inch Nails is fiercely entertaining to consume, and the band never sounds as though they are rehashing the same idea twice.
The set culminates in a political post-punk rampage focused on the racial divides in the UK, and the questions levelled at British police forces, showing that this act is more than just a gothic gimmick; Dead Animals have a burning passion that one can only suspect will take them very, very far.
Across the crowd it is possible to spot people sporting merchandise purchased from recent concerts held in the north west; a hoodie from Casey’s return in Manchester, a Holding Absence hoodie and a Void Of Vision shirt from their show in Liverpool. And the latter of those is particularly pertinent, as the second support, Maybank, recently opened for Holding Absence, albeit with a temporary replacement for their lead vocalist following an unfortunate illness.
So it’s no surprise that the band, lead vocalist present and accounted for, are greeted with a wave of pronounced cheering as they commence their set; these self-proclaimed ‘sad boi music makers’ are steadily making a name for themselves with their fantastic blend of post-hardcore, grunge, and alternative, and have recently released their latest single ‘Hitlist’, which is a must-listen if you have yet to check it out.
‘Hitlist’ goes over a storm with the crowd, with the catchy, soaring choruses providing plenty of energy to lift the audience off their feet, whilst the band practically glow with how much fun they are having performing; the chemistry between all five of the band members is electrifying, and translates to an infectious enthusiasm that hooks the crowd in.
‘Rough’, one of their bigger hits, takes the tempo down a notch, but the power of the performance resonates deeply; it’s a haunting and tender moment in a night of raucous revelry, but one that doesn’t dampen the mood whatsoever. And for those who worried that the band would end on a softer note, fear not, because they closed their set with their debut single, ‘Lost Thoughts’, and in doing so, achieved an actual mosh pit with little to no prompting of the audience; you know a support act’s performance is special when they are able to command that kind of enthusiasm.
In a city so dominated by indie, it’s quite clear that Maybank are breathing life back into the heavier side of Liverpool’s music scene.
By this point, the small cavern of EBGBs is approaching full capacity as what stragglers are left find their way into the venue; even a couple whom had no idea who was performing decide to snap up one of the few remaining doors tickets on the promise of an electrifying headline act. With a thumbs up from guitarist Jacob Jones, the sound system is turned up to 11, and Gen and the Degenerates launch into what will end up being a simply phenomenal set of music.
Frontperson and namesake Gen Glynn-Reeves carries the air of someone who has arrived straight out of the frontlines of the 80’s punk scene. Every look given to the crowd, every flick of the hand, every vocal delivery, all of it is conducted with a captivating decisiveness; Gen performs as if they are acutely aware that they have the crowd eating out of the palm of their hand, and frankly, that truly is the case considering a good portion of the set is composed of tracks that the band are cooking up in the studio, and the audience devours them as if they have been released for years.
Gen introduces ‘Girls’ as being a song about ‘how much [they] like girls’, and the crowd goes wild at even the mere prospect. The track oozes pride and vibrancy as Gen toys with the audience members on the front row, knowing full-well that for a concert, this is a fiercely safe space for LGBTQ+ individuals, a welcome change from punk concerts of white dudebros with beards, beer, and a love for crowd-killing. The lyricism is packed with firecracker wit, including the line ‘I’m a little bit shorter, let me call you Mummy’, which sends a good portion of the crowd swooning.
The following-track is also yet to be released, as the five-piece explore the cesspool that is the ‘Internet’, and all of its morally bankrupt and parasocial goings on. Bassist Jay Humphreys delivers a slick, groovy bass-line that gives the track a truckload of buoyant fun, whilst Gen delivers scathing and witty spoken word that is going to go down a storm with fans of the likes of Panic Shack and Yard Act. The band then plays the aforementioned latest single, ‘My Perfect’, as Gen disappears into the frenzied mass of the crowd.
What makes Gen and the Degenerates such a welcome relief to listen to is the sheer enthusiasm for life that is present in their music, and that is showcased even on another upcoming song that is all about grief. ‘Jude’ is the band’s most stripped back track to date, and interpolates the famous The Beatles hit ‘Hey Jude’ to create something incredibly touching. The vocals and instrumentation convey a palpable sense of vulnerability, and the lyricism is incredibly bittersweet; the lyric ‘your cats keep looking for you’ is single-handedly one of the most simple yet heart-breaking ever written, and audience members did actually shed tears because of it.
Yet the track builds into a sonic celebration of life in the climax, a reminder of a core ethos that seems to exist throughout all of this band’s material; life is for living. And that sense of celebration carries over into the band’s big hit ‘Girl God Gun’, which the crowds absolutely adores. The chemistry between Gen and guitarist Jones is so much fun to watch as they exchange vocal lines, not forgetting the genuine fun that the rest of the band are having as their runaway hit whips the crowd up.
Big hits is the name of the game on another unreleased track, aptly entitled ‘A Big Single’, in which the band calls out their label for demanding another big hit from the outfit, regardless of what the band wants. Gen makes a genuinely hilarious frontperson throughout this performance, and it’s clear that this is a track that the band have a lot of fun performing.
The night of festivities wraps up with the pansexual anthem ‘Underwear’, and the crowd use what little energy that is left in their tanks to give the band a night they truly deserve. There’s a real, deep adoration from so many of the crowd members for this band and what they represent, a life of self-love and self-acceptance, and of creating spaces in which anyone and everyone, no matter who they love or how they identify, can be welcomed. Even after what must have been an exhausting night, Gen has the courtesy to speak to all fans at the merch desk, taking their time to treat each person as an individual.
For Gen and the Degenerates, it was back to completing their tour with Dub War and plotting their next steps towards musical domination; whenever these unreleased songs finally drop, there’s no doubting that it’ll herald the band’s biggest and most exciting era yet, as the punk world finally starts to take notice of the efforts of the best five-piece you have yet to listen to. And if you happen to see their name on the billing near you, even if you know not their songs, just grab a ticket, and enjoy one hell of a ride.
Photo credit: Derek Bremner
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