Sleaford Mods spit in the face of genre limitations. Their sound is hard to pin down, and although parts of it can be compared to certain labels – a kind of drum and bass meets minimal punk, perhaps – it’s hard to draw comparisons to bands past or present. No need.
With Jason Williamson’s words set over Andrew Fearn’s music, Sleaford Mods are a band making loud political punk noise that’s drawn an impressive following. Despite releasing music since 2006, the band were only able to quit the day jobs late last year, and it couldn’t have come at a better moment. Tonight’s sold out show at Camden’s Electric Ballroom is packed with an avid choir, howling back Williamson’s crude and brutally honest lines, speak-sung with an iconic East Midlands accent.
There’s nothing on stage but a microphone and a laptop, and the duo are low on audience talk, with the set being dominated by 2014’s Divide and Exit LP. On ‘Air Conditioning’, Williamson yells “I can’t believe the rich still exist, let alone run the fucking country” whereas ‘Fizzy’ speaks of working “my dreams off for two bits of ravioli and a warm bottle of Smirnoff, under a manager that doesn’t have a fucking clue”.
Their hour long set of political poetry is a refreshing and unique take on life in modern day working class Britain, but no doubt to some, their brand of radical self-described ‘punk hop’ is an acquired taste. If you find overt, over-the-top swearing unnecessary then don’t bother. But their performance is energetic, passionate, righteous and loud. Tonight, Sleaford Mods showed punk’s not quite dead yet.
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