Leeds on a school night and it’s our first time at Hyde Park Book Club, a cool little venue a stone’s throw from the centre of town. As we pile in downstairs, the place is already rammed for local favourites Mush. I love that moment you arrive at a venue to hear a band already in full swing, getting fully stuck in as the invisible cameras roll and the crowd hit their marks.
I’ve heard the Parquet Courts tag attached to Mush before and it really came through tonight. Jerking along at pace with a proper funky backing, they’ve got a collection of instant earworms and are, quite rightly, hotly tipped. A drum key was requested with a major hint of doubt but, fair play, found within seconds. That’s the Leeds community spirit, eh?
Outside eating pistachios by the cupful, we unfortunately missed the start of COWTOWN, but managed to squeeze into the busy room to hear the 100mph ‘Tweak’ (from 2016’s ‘Paranormal Romance‘) and its joyous shouts of “Oh-Ay-Oh”. A mid-set shoutout for cardamom pods offered up a minor breath of air from the flurry of synth-heavy Devo-esque ragers in ‘Buggin’ Out’ and the absolute super-jam that is ‘Ski School’. ‘Emojicore’ is the big one and is treated as such, with every head in the place bobbing away.
All the way from Atlanta, Georgia, Omni arrive with the briefest of introductions, bursting into life on the infectious ‘Afterlife’ from debut LP ‘Deluxe’. Very much a no mucking about outfit, a rapid-fire kick-off bleeds directly into the staccato beat of ‘Tuxedo Blues’ from last year’s ‘Multi-Task’ and we’re away.
“It is just wonderful to be back in Leeds” announces frontman Philip Frobos, with a smile.
It’s back and forth between ‘Deluxe’ and ‘Multi-Task’ throughout the evening, the trio playing their brilliant wares to an appreciative audience. The disco-wrist efforts on cucumber-cool ‘Wire’ get the front few rows to come alive, with that killer guitar sounding so sweet. ‘Equestrian’ – easily one of their best – comes out in full force and man, it’s hard not to love that infectious little drum part during the up-tempo chorus. Their newly appointed drummer is on point, whipping up a storm behind his minimal kit.
Having only recently released a cheeky 7” for the masses, the ever prolific trio have been playing an even newer number on tour. ‘Delicacy’ has some riff on it, coupled with an infectious chorus and occasional rapid fire drum attack. The aforementioned single shows up too, as ‘Sunset Preacher’ continues on the fine tradition of quirky, joyous post-punk bangers that they’ve become known for. Frobos adds some cracking little bass flourishes here,
Guitarist Frankie Broyles is electric all evening, offering up some ripper of a guitar part on a quirky little instrumental cover of ‘Manic Mechanic’ (“That’s a little number by a band called ZZ Top”) and the delectable ‘Earrings’. Whilst he doesn’t move much off the spot he’s stood, he plays a blinder all night, locked into each and every slick guitar part.
Raising a bevvy for locals COWTOWN and Mush (“One of those nights where all the bands are good!” – Frobos) allows the congregation before them to take a much needed drink in the sweltering heat. ‘Type’ and ‘Choke’ from ‘Multi-Task’ offer up particular highlights, the former with its unexpected, driving ending and the latter with is super sweet riff, brilliantly building up to the choruses.
“Y’all are fun!” Says a jubilant Frobos prior to the announcement of two more – ‘Southbound Station’ and ‘Wednesday Wedding’ – stirring up the crowd once more, but then sneakily smashing through two further jams from ‘Deluxe’ in ‘78’ and ‘Siam‘. There’s a terrific moment on ‘Siam’ where Frankie, just prior to the frantic solo, hesitantly hovers above a pedal and then presses through, ripping through the guitar part for its close.
There’s a lot to love about Omni and one finds themselves having an insatiable appetite for their live show once they’ve seen them in such a capacity. Whilst the EU tour has since wrapped up, we’re already counting down the days for their next tour announcement!
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