I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: April 11, 2023] Sleaford Mods

I’ve been aware of Sleaford Mods for a few years.  I enjoy them a little more in theory than in reality.  It’s a little aggressive for me and Jason Williamson is a little too angry for my tastes these days.  But I still thought they would be fun to see live.

When Sheer Mag was done, the roadies cleared out everything from the stage–amps, gear, banner.  Everything stripped out.

There was nothing on the stage when Andrew Fearn came up with a table and a laptop.   Then they brought up a microphone.

And that was that.

So what the heck is this band all about?

Sleaford Mods have described their work as “electronic munt minimalist punk-hop rants for the working class.” Williamson is responsible for the words, Fearn for the music. Sleaford Mods songs have been described as embittered rants about such topics as unemployment, modern working life, celebrities and pop culture, capitalism and society in general. The lyrics usually contain profanity, which is, according to Williamson, the way in which he speaks and “not just fucking swearing.” Fearn’s music has been described as “purgatorial loop[s]” of “pugilistic post-punk-style bass; functional but unprepossessing beats; occasional cheap keyboard riffs and listless wafts of guitar.” Williamson’s voice on Sleaford Mods songs is sprechgesang, rapped with an East Midlands dialect.

So they don’t really do rap.  But they kind of do. 

Before each song, Fearn basically walked up to the laptop, pressed a button or two and the backed up so that Williamson could do his ranting.

While Williamson was ranting, Fearn stood in the back and danced.  His dancing was appropriate to the beat of the music.  And he did this for ninety minutes!  He must be exhausted every night.

Williamson seems angry when he shouts his lyrics, but between songs he is a sweetheart–giving a goofy smile, a little curtsey, and saying how excited they were to be here.

Then he would turn and go off on whatever the next song was about.

It was remarkably samey.  I probably would have been happy with 30 or even sixty minutes.  The show ran to ninety minutes and i will say that the last few songs were crowd favorites and seemed to get people really hyped.

The strangest thing was that during one song an older guy who had been pogoing a lot (the crowd was remarkably non-moving, especially given the dancer on stage) moved up and started pogoing really close the stage.  When the song was over he pogoed back to his spot.

I enjoyed the experience and it was cool to know that so many people know and like this music (singer Wesley Stace was there).   It would probably be more fun to see them in a setting where the audience really knew what he was talking about (it was had to understand him, most of the time); on the other hand, local fans might make the show too wild for me.  So it was probably the best place to see it.  I enjoyed the show a lot, but don’t need to see them again.

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