Tax The Heat / Naked Six - Night People, Manchester (UK) - 25 April 2018

Naked Six don't half make a righteous noise. There may be only 2 of them, but Tom Witts on drums and singer/guitarist Seb Byford (yes, that famous dad) rip it up and it bodes well for their debut. Byford throws himself around the stage, perhaps to banish loneliness, and the crowd rather lap up this banging, fuzzed-up howl of delight.

Tax The Heat are bathing in their fantastic album 'Change Your Position' and tonight have the modesty they've showed in the past linked to a fantastic robust sound. They begin with that album opener, 'Money In The Bank', which gives them the right way to feel themselves into the show, following it with 'On The Run', it's ballsy to play two new tracks from the off but the crowd are appreciative; they like to breakdown and tease us, their tightness allowing them to do whatever they need. 'All That Medicine', a standout on the new album, provides even greater excitement here with all the extraneous sound effects stripped away and the feral groove ramped up, but strangely accessing its inner Franz Ferdinand too; it made me revisit it on the way home.

Some say they lack charisma, but they concentrate on the songs and leave the show to catch up, which in this smoky, subterranean club it does simply through hard work – Alex Veale's voice is all there and they often have a sixties early Kinks feel which does them real credit. No surprise that new single 'Cut Your Chains' hammers out it's groove with a sleazy shimmer and a massive wig out to end.

They don't forget the older tunes though, turning themselves into the Tax The Heat jukebox and asking the audience to call for any song, as long as it's from the debut 'Fed To The Lions'; from this we get the Country Rock feel of 'Caroline' and a raucous 'Stood On The Platform To Leave' after which the guitarist J.P. Jacyshyn gets the familiar cry of love from the crowd. It's fitting and lovely that they call out departing guitar tech Adam to play cowbell on 'Change Your Position', somewhat of a surprise call but one he takes to with aplomb.

Tax The Heat have jumped up several notches with their second album. Here they just showed that wasn't a fluke; this is a band who are ready to fly.

Steve Swift