Working Men’s Club at Brudenell Social Club (livestream)
Johnny James, Managing Editor
Tune into Brudenell Social Club’s latest live transmission, featuring Yorkshire quartet, Working Men’s Club.
Offering a 21st-century take on new wave and post-punk, the band have long been tipped for big things. Formed at BIMM music college in 2018, they signed to Heavenly Records four months after releasing their debut single, ‘Bad Blood’ – a twangy, guitar-led track that earned comparisons to old masters like The Fall as well as contemporary bands like Parquet Courts.
A new line-up (including the Moonlandingz’ Mairead O’Connor and Drenge’s Rob Graham) saw the band veering in a more electronic direction. 2019’s ‘Teeth’ was three and half minutes of punishing indie techno, reminiscent of the likes of Suicide and Soft Cell, who lead singer Sydney Minsky-Sargeant regularly cites as influences.
Electropop banger ‘White Rooms and People’ came a couple of months later, followed by 2020’s industrial-sounding ‘A.A.A.A.’. This track – the first we’ve heard from their upcoming debut album – is darker than anything they’ve released previously. “Is this enough?”, Minsky-Sargeant snarls atop crushed electro drums and an obsessively filthy bass line, pausing for the occasional war cry.
Live, the band ramp up the energy even further, their well-honed, combative stage presence easily whipping audiences into a frenzy. Though a virtual gig could never be the same as seeing them in the flesh, Working Men’s Club’s upcoming Brudenell transmission comes at an exciting time for the band. On the cusp of an album that could be the spark for an explosive 2021, this will be a tantalising glimpse into the future that awaits them.
