Last summer was Brat summer, à la Charli XCX, this year we have ‘Brat Punk/Metal’ spring, courtesy of Delilah Bon’s electric sold out show at The Garage on Friday, supported by Eville.
Rising Brighton electro punk influenced ‘Brat Metal’ trio Eville, fronted by the powerful Eva Sheldrake on vocals and guitar, started the party with ‘BR4T MOBL’, quickly engaging the audience in their brand of bratty vocals, combined hyper-pop choruses and nu-metal sensibilities.
Latest single ‘Plaything’, featured the thumping drums of Milo Hemsley, and the driving bass of Jude Richards, as Sheldrake’s vocals masterfully jumped from the rapped verses to melodic anthemic choruses.
Amongst the highlights included the thunderous ‘Blood’ with its hypnotic opening riff, and ‘Leech’ with its furious drum & bass breakbeat opening, and Sheldrake’s howling vocals, transcending into the hooky chorus and raw lyrics on the nature of toxicity.
The anarchy of set closer ‘Messy’ brought the crowd and band together, with Eva jumping into the crowd, and energetic moshing all around.
With touches of Evanescence, Slipknot and KNIFE BRIDE this exciting band is definitely on the up. Catch them supporting Redhook on their upcoming UK/EU tour in April.
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Delilah Bon sashayed onto the stage as if she owned the joint, and with her brand of lyrical hip-hop, riot grrrl punk and mischievous delivery, she certainly did.
Barnsley born, Lauren Tate’s current avatar, Delilah Bon was ably supported by her band, including former Hands Off Gretel bandmate Becky Baldwin on bass, and for the next one and a half hours displayed a masterclass of passion, performance and power, which had the audience eating out the palm of her hand.
Opener ‘Brat’, set the tone with its in your face lyrics and delivery emphasising her place in the world and connecting to her tribe at the same time.
‘Chop Dicks’ turned her attention towards rape culture, victim blaming and the despairing need for men and boys to educate themselves.
You guys pretend that it is funny when it’s not
Did it happen to your sister? I guess not
Do you not respect your mother? I guess not
Did you get it from your father? Well of course not
Amongst the numerous highlights, including many from her recent album ‘Evil, Hate Filled Female’, were ‘I Am The Best (Just Ask Your Momma)’, ‘The Internet’, ‘War on Women’ as well as golden oldies ‘School’ and ‘Chiquitita’, dedicated to all the older women.
‘Not My President’ is an ode to her fans and inclusivity, women, queers, non-binary, neurodivergent, differently abled and everyone who looks any flavour of different. The song brought out a softer vulnerable Delilah alone on stage with just her guitar, which made it even more powerful, with lyrics such as,
How could you despise all these beautiful people?
How could you just hate ’cause you don’t understand?
The audience were firmly in Delilah’s corner all evening, singing along and dancing to every song and especially in full throttle screaming, in a call and response to the chorus of ‘Dead Men Don’t Rape’.
The whole show was a feast for the eyes and ears, and apart from Delilah Bon and her band commanding the stage, we had hype-queen Cleo De Vile delivering a variety of characters from police officers to clown girls at several points and a hilarious cameo from the inflatable penis, which made its way from the stage to the crowd and all the way back.
Show closer ‘Maverick’, brought the whole house (and garage!) down. The cheeky frenetic, female empowerment anthem had London moshing, accentuated by Delilah Bon’s screams and alternating quick fire raps.
It’s no surprise that her current tour was sold out, as a highly entertaining and prolific torch-bearer for the disadvantaged, catch her whilst you can!
Tourdates
Slam Dunk Festival May 24-25, Hatfield Park and Temple Newsom
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