If you’ve spent any time on Manchester’s punk scene, you’ll know The Red Stains. A regular feature on line-up posters pasted across the city, a mainstay of LOUD WOMEN shows past and present, and the stars of glowing reviews scribbled on toilet doors in many of Manchester’s legendary venues, The Red Stains are an established name. And with good reason: With their signature sardonic lyricism and unbridled emotion, they bring a fire to the stage that is often unparalleled.
Like every stage The Red Stains grace, this one was crowded by dedicated fans joyously singing lyrics or throwing their full bodies into trance-like dance. To say they are bordering on underground cult-like status wouldn’t be an overstatement.
During a particularly energetic chorus, lead singer Natalie Emslie parted the crowd and ascended the mixing desk at the back of the room. With red contacts and guttural rage, she brought intimidatingly cool Buffy-villian vibes to The Peer Hat’s cave-like basement venue.
The Peer Hat’s dimly-lit, enveloping venue is a firm favourite in Manchester, known for hosting rising names and DIY festivals, alongside some iconic club nights. And with walls adorned in stickers, streamers, and swathes of fabric, it’s the perfect setting for the band’s edgy, kitsch appeal.
While it’s hard to stay away from comparisons with other punk stalwarts such as The Slits and Le Tigre, The Red Stains bring something distinct. Taking aim at everyone from greedy managers to gluttonous high street sales, their energetic vocals dripped with sarcasm and disdain for a system take takes far more than it gives.
Their knack for tapping into their audience’s collective frustration was crystallised as the crowd joined their ferocious refrain of ‘where’s my 20%?’ during the aptly-named 20%. Their newest release ‘Freezer Jesus’ skewered Black Friday and corporate consumerism with palpable disdain (and a few honorary mentions for Manchester’s own capitalist hotspots).
Speaking of new additions, their signature thumping bass and drums were skyrocketed to spacey new heights by newest member Liss, who’s bubbly synth was the perfect accent to their self-described ‘cyborg-housewife-glitch-kitsch-supermarketcore’ sound.
The Red Stains are known for putting on a great show, but if there is one thing to takeaway from their performance at tonight’s Loud Women event it’s that they are only getting better with time.