Hate to keep banging this drum (I don’t), but with music venues under threat left and right and the ‘use it or lose it’ sentiment being screamed from the city’s mosh pits, another Sheffield gig took place last Friday (7 March), headlined by a Sheffield-based band, and it was rammo, sweaty and bouncing!
The venue in question was the (probably) soon-to-be three-time Exposed Awards loser Delicious Clam, and the occasion – Turbo Diesel’s debut EP launch.
Made up of a selection of recognisable Sheffield bandsmen, Turbo Diesel is fronted by Lewis Sharman (formerly of Sheffield fuzz rockers Best Friends), with Ben Chapman (Knorke) on bass and Rory Loveless (Drenge) behind the kit.
Their five-track, self-titled EP is a formidable collection of hook-laden riffs, draped over deep, fuzzy bass grooves and Devo-esque backwards drum samples – all brought together with a cast of sardonic characters. More on these royal fuck-ups later!
First up on the bill is Big Break, a Sheffield hardcore(ish) band featuring another former Best Friends alumnus on guitar duty, as well as a host of other solid Sheffield bands on the remaining members’ résumés.
It’s their first gig for nine months, but there’s no ring rust as they rip through a litany of breakneck two-minute screamers about everything from bad bosses and smartphones to human toilets and disdain for the police. There’s a frog and a rat in the mosh pit. I don’t know why.
Next up is Plastics, who have travelled all the way up from Brighton to lend their own brand of punk to the evening. Neither of tonight’s openers seems to be able to get beyond the two-minute mark of a song, and this set – much like Big Break’s – whips your pants down and legs it long before you’ve figured out why your nethers have caught a chill!
Lead singer Oli is having a great time as she invites us into the Plastic World and declares mid-set that Delicious Clam is her favourite thing about Sheffield. She’s got a point. Wonder if she’s voted in the awards?
So, kegs back up, I discuss the merits of the ‘dodgy-looking cash machine’ with one of the Brighton contingent out front before it’s onto our headliners: Turbo Diesel. Having had a sneaky listen to the EP earlier in the week, I did wonder how their poppier brand of garage post-punk would stand up to the bracing hardcore we’d just been kegged by.
Turns out, after some technical difficulties with their backing tracks (swiftly dealt with by the Clam guys and a double helping of ‘Shred It’, one sans backing), it’s a different vibe but no less well received by the Clam crowd. Pogoing gives way to indie shuffling.
The standout track is their debut single, ‘Sweat It’, a monster of a tune – eminently danceable, full of backwards drum samples, big whooping slidey bass lines, delicious guitar interludes and a tongue-in-cheek lyric about a certain perspiration-averse royal:
“When the shots fired over the bow / ’Cause you’ve been doing things you know you’re not allowed / Don’t you sweat it”
…plus an outro of ‘Meet me at the Express’. Lovely stuff.
They fire through the five EP tracks, and I’m completely sold on them. My only complaint? I want a bit more. Maybe that’s just me being greedy. I leave, thankful to have witnessed another local gem, but mainly thankful there’s so much good stuff going on in Sheffield if you scratch beyond the surface just a little bit.
Turbo Diesel’s self-titled debut EP, on Sheffield DIY music connoisseurs Delicious Clam Records, is available in digital format here, along with a limited run of 40 cassettes (if there are any of those left?).
