Warmduscher bring squalor, sleaze and celebration to Sheffield

Two days after the release of their fourth album, At The Hotspot, Warmduscher are in the mood to party.

The London five-piece appear dressed in pristine, uniform, white boiler suits, the implication being that they are more than a band - a gang, a cult..? Or just an assemblage of oddballs rounded up by leader Clams Baker Jr. Whatever they are, they specialise in fun.

“You might find love at the hotspot, you might find pain, you might find joy, you will find whatever… at the hotspot”, says Baker Jr by way of introducing himself and the group. It’s a neat summation of an evening that’s centred around themes of hedonism, violence and sex.

The primal riff of ’Big Wilma’ ignites the Sheffield crowd as Baker Jr tells the first of his many tales from the underbelly of civilised society.

Recent single ‘Wild Flowers’ is greeted rapturously as Baker Jr lets it all out in depraved fashion: “Fuck the kids on the sidewalk that laugh at me when I fall over / And fuck that old lady that gives me that fucking stink eye.”

The band combine sounds from punk, funk, glam, soul, hip-hop and disco. There are no frills, just a solid bed on which indecency and squalor can thrive.

Tracks like ‘Eight Minute Machine' and ‘Disco Peanuts’ showcase a propulsive, minimalist disco sound. ‘1000 Whispers’ is their Spector-esque love song, building to a mammoth singalong chorus. ‘I Got Friends’ is a slightly terrifying glam bopper, while ‘Burner’ and ‘Fill it, Don’t Spill It’ owe a debt to multiple styles of hip-hop.

Whatever genre they take on in their 25-song set, the band never stray too far from the sleaze.

A special mention must go to band member The Witherer, aka Little Whiskers (Quinn Whalley). Remaining motionless for most of the show apart from some sporadic cow-bell action, he is a bizarre anti-Bez, adding to the weird and wonderful world of Warmduscher.