Photo Credit: Lauren Pine
Monday night saw Rescue Rooms at full capacity as Man/Woman/Chainsaw brought their sold-out UK tour back to Nottingham, just six weeks after the release of their debut album Cannonball. Emerging from London’s Brixton Windmill scene, the six-piece have quickly built a reputation for pushing art-rock into unpredictable territory. Live, that reputation makes perfect sense.
Leeds’ Bathing Suits opened the evening with their electronic-noise-pop sound. Fronted by Freyja Blevins on vocals and drum machine, alongside George Dickinson and Alex Mulholland on guitar and Elise Hughes on bass, the four-piece brought an eccentric mix of industrial noise and rave energy to the stage. Blevins quickly became the focal point, gradually pulling the audience into their world before encouraging the room to dance during the final two songs. Roses were thrown into the crowd as they left the stage, leaving a memorable impression ahead of their own headline show at The Bodega next February.
Then came Man/Woman/Chainsaw, walking onto the stage to Queen’s “We Will Rock You” before launching straight into “Only Girl”. It was an immediate introduction to everything that makes this band so compelling. It wasn’t long before the six-piece filled every corner of the stage. Billy Ward and Vera Leppänen traded vocals, while Emmie-Mae Avery moved between keys, synthesizers and piano. Beside them, Clio Starwood’s violin added another dimension to the already dense arrangement, with Billy Doyle on guitar and Lola Cherry driving the whole thing from behind the drums.
“The Thing” follows shortly after, the album artwork projected behind the band as Billy Ward takes the lead on vocals for the first time that evening. It wasn’t long before “Canyon’s” pull everything back. Leppänen on lead vocals and Avery on piana create a quieter opening before the song slowly reveals its heavier side with Clio Starwood’s violin cutting through the noise.
That unpredictability becomes the defining feature of the set, with often the bands dual vocal approach giving plenty of character. “Adam & Steve” saw Ward and Leppänen bounce between perspectives, the song becoming increasingly chaotic as the pair took control of the stage. There was a genuine sense of enjoyment between the band members throughout, particularly as they moved through the more theatrical corners of the set.
That theatricality returned on “Goddamn, Lizard Man!”, with Ward taking the lead again on one of the album’s most eccentric tracks. Its sinister character and memorable combination of strings and keys gave the song an almost musical theatre quality, before “Still Angry” stripped things back and allowed Leppänen’s vocals to take centre stage for the first time in the set.
The set continued to move through different shades of ‘Cannonball’, including a heavier “Flick of The Wrist”, unreleased “scab” and older material such as “Ode To Clio”. “Something Else To Give” offered another softer turn before the band launched into a late set cover of The Breeders’ “Cannonball”, a clear nod to one of the album’s inspirations.
Then came “Nosedive”. With a pink chainsaw-shaped bubble machine in hand, Leppänen had the room jumping, creating an LCD Soundsystem “All My Friends” moment as the crowd surrendered to the song’s euphoric final stretch.
For a band only just beginning to make their mark, Man/Woman/Chainsaw already have a remarkably complete live identity. Cannonball introduces their world, but on stage those ideas expand into something bigger, stranger and completely their own. If this is the starting point, their rise is going to be worth watching.
