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When making rock-and-roll music at a point when it feels like everything has been done before, it pays not to overthink it.
Dominic McGuinness of The Bohicas described a smart way of working when writing his band’s menacing, fiery song Swarm: they wanted “to make it really dumb, music from the neck down, no-thinking… just a body tune”.
Coupled with another A-side, XXX, they produced one of the best indie-rock singles of the past year — seedy, nasty guitar music that could be the soundtrack to a pulp horror film. It did, kind of, in the video, in which an actress rips out a man’s bloody heart and drives off cackling. It has had more than half a million YouTube views — not bad for an Essex quartet who are still at the club stage of their gigging career.
A couple of imminent London shows and new single To Die For should sharpen interest in this summer’s debut album. Sounds like it won’t be clever but a lot of fun.
Jan 16, Koko, NW1 (0870 432 5527, koko.uk.com); Feb 12, The Dome, N19 (020 7272 8153, dometufnellpark.co.uk)
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