Posted by After a two year hiatus Puppy returned to the stage last September, so in the midst of a heatwave, with temperatures topping 30 degrees and cold pints aplenty the English rockers descended on Sheffield. The London based trio brought their unique and catchy blend of thrash metal volume, Black Sabbath doom and Weezer style hooks to the cosy environs of Sidney & Matilda.
The first of the two support acts were Nylon, a hardcore band from the steel city itself whose debut came out last year. They were a short, sharp shock of raucous punk who passionately bounded about the small venue with barely contained aggression, reminiscent of IDLES. Their over in a flash, diatribe against Sheffield City Council ‘Atlantis’ blew away any cobwebs. No nonsense Uzumaki were up next, their sound is a throwback to angst ridden, 90s punk and alt rock – it’s decidedly American and nothing you ain’t heard before but ‘Heaven’ and ‘Head Up’ were catchy.
Bedecked in casual clothes and with the charmingly low key stage decorations, Puppy spelled out in big golden balloons, ‘And Watch It Glow’ from Pure Evil kicked off the night. They breezed through their compact set and for a band with only released 2 albums and a few EPs to their name, they have quite a few grade A bangers – the emphatic ‘Black Hole’ and the stomping ‘World Stands Still’ both went down a treat. They have a natural bonhomie between themselves and the criminally small crowd, who warmly received ‘Do It Again’ the NWOBHM style gem from the debut EP. The hefty, Pantera esque thwomp of ‘Entombed’ was the penultimate track and, despite clamours for Enrique Iglesias, the night ended on an unexpectedly hearty rendition of Chad Kroeger‘s ‘Hero’ – and of course a mass sing along ensued.
Puppy were great and with any luck they will be the next big thing. It’s good to see them back.
8/10
N.B. This band are very annoying to Google, all you get is the band Pup or pictures of puppies.
Lofty Music and Film 