KC and her Magic Band

Maya arrives standard 15 minutes late seemingly surprised that I was on time. Despite me sampling a vegan burger and sides at Inspiral on the lock. Gotta get in the mood for americana. We get into the Electric Ballroom having to queue up to show my entry number emailed to me. Environmentally friendly but inconvenient. Ah well. Maya's bag is searched - the CV in it doesn't get her offered a job as a bouncer. First band are already on. Pinkwash are a duo with heavy metal guitarist and similar drummer. They sound good if you like that sort of heavy metal grunge sound, which I can be partial to, but the singer's high pitched voice sort of grates on you and I wouldn't say that it's a pleasant experience. The guitarist likes his heavy rock rhythm guitarist moves and Maya's take is School of Rock. I agree. The guy has a surprisingly softly spoken american accent when he speaks to us and is obviously chuffed to be supporting Waxahatchee and so they are warmly applauded by the sparse crowd and I will give them the benefit of the doubt next time. Maybe I needed a couple of drinks in me and to be headbanging along with them.

After the usual stage setup shenanigans the hotly anticipated Girlpool take the stage. They look young and with one severe fringe and two side head buns look the part of angst ridden grungy rock. A bassist (from whom I could learn a hell of a lot) and guitarist are Girlpool and they give us a fantastic set of beautiful yet hard hitting songs straight out of garageland with brilliant vocal harmonies. Well, not yer Welsh voice choir harmonies Pete but earnest and playful two voices bouncing off each other. They are very very good. The throaty bass and sometimes heavy sometimes sharp sounding guitar compliment each other perfectly. Would be interesting to hear them jamming with Pinkwash but for now they don't need improving one bit. They chat with us and are so happy to be here. One song the guitarist drops her plectrum and they have to carry on at a convenient point. Then it's dropped again (sweaty finger nerves or the lights?) and after a lot of laughter from them and us they decide that it's not worth finishing the jinxed song. Any disappointment is broken by Girlpool telling us that "it's on the album anyway" which makes us laugh again and is a brilliant piece of marketing. I must go buy. They leave to a lot of applause and american style shouting out, just to make them feel at home, from the much fuller crowd and it's a shame they're not back for an encore.

Glowing in the reflected glory of taking Maya to see such a great gig, go on admit it, I am cool Maya!, we are treated to the comical spectacle of a 6'6" roadie testing the mics for 5'6" singers. Again and again. Then tested again by Katie C. Eventually the lights are dimmed and Waxahatchee take the stage. Katie Crutchfield's band vehicle go straight into motoring rock with none of this messing about with coy angsty indieness. The five piece deliver a big big sound which is a coming together of singer songwriter sensitivity (Katie must have listened to The Bedsit Disco Queen herself Tracey Thorn), north west coast grunge and southern american folksy swampland roots blues mashup sort of a vibe. Heavy too. Incredible voice over the top is the icing on a phat rocking cake. A lot of the songs I recognise from the new album Ivy Tripp, I must google where that title came from, and live they sound great. A fuller sound than the record but that's not a bad thing when you're in a close sweaty club. Although sounding fresh and current this would've gone down well back in the day when I used to go clubbing at the Electric Ballroom indie and funk disco one of the few places in London to groove to disco back in the late 80s except for Gossips but I digress. I'm not sure whether Waxahatchee will ever be filed in the Rock section of our returning vinyl record stores but they surely can hold their own against cod piece rockers live. I saw the band back in January in St Pancras Old Church where it was really Katie with friends and necessarily a lot more restrained than tonight. They certainly rocked 18 months ago at the Scala when I went on my tod (http://psicle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/i-wandered-lonely-as-cloud.html) and if anything they've tightened up the sound. All the band members hold their own and it doesn't seem like merely KC's backing band. As they get to the end of the storming set I am surprisingly (as I usually like my music loud and fast) wondering if they'll bring it down a notch and if Katie will give us a few of her solo songs. Up to now they've been very upbeat bringing us the sunny side of the deep south rather than the downsides. The band leave the stage and I tell Maya that Katie'll be back on her own and sure enough she does return for a few solo numbers that drill right down to your soul. A magical end to a great set. We leave the Ballroom and I walk Maya to the number 29 before heading back south Northern Line pitying the travellers for not having been in an old sweaty club in Camden. As I would have been singing a quarter of a century ago in the Ballroom, that's the way uh huh uh huh I like it uh huh uh huh.

The fabulous GIRLPOOL

Katie sings

Bathed in light

Versatile

The whole of Waxahatchee. Just.

KC finishes off for us