The Upcoming
  • Culture
    • Art
    • Cinema
      • Movie reviews
      • Film festivals
    • Food & Drinks
      • News & Features
      • Restaurant & bar reviews
      • Interviews & Recipes
    • Literature
    • Music
      • Live music
    • Theatre
    • Shows & On demand
  • Fashion & Lifestyle
    • Accessories
    • Beauty
    • News & Features
    • Shopping & Trends
    • Tips & How-tos
    • Fashion weeks
  • What’s On
    • Art exhibitions
    • Theatre shows
  • Tickets
  • Join us
    • Editorial unit
    • Our writers
    • Join the team
    • Join the mailing list
    • Support us
    • Contact us
  • Interviews
  • Competitions
  • Special events
    • Film festivals
      • Berlin
      • Tribeca
      • Sundance London
      • Cannes
      • Locarno
      • Venice
      • London
      • Toronto
    • Fashion weeks
      • London Fashion Week
      • New York Fashion Week
      • Milan Fashion Week
      • Paris Fashion Week
      • Haute Couture
      • London Fashion Week Men’s
  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • Instagram

  • YouTube

  • RSS

CultureMusicLive music

Deap Vally at the Electric Ballroom

Deap Vally at the Electric Ballroom | Live review
16 November 2013
Sarah Edmonds
Avatar
Sarah Edmonds
16 November 2013

The Electric Ballroom is almost bursting at the seams waiting for Californian gritty-blues duo Deap Vally to grace its stage on the London leg of their European tour.

A lot has been made of the fact that Lindsey Troy (guitar/vocals) and Julie Edwards (drums/vocals) met at a crochet class – like somehow knitting and rocking are mutually exclusive – but their extracurricular activity is not the most important thing about Deap Vally. They hold their own in the ultra-macho world of rock music, injecting a feminine edge while simultaneously rejecting a stereotypical feminine sound.

Deap Vally enter the stage to Baby Got Back, Troy interrupting Sir Mix-a-Lot mid-sentence with a blast of growling guitar. It’s a surreal start, perhaps their two pennies worth in the ongoing Miley Cyrus-inspired debate over the music industry’s sexualisation of women. That’s not to say that Troy and Edwards are stalwarts of modesty; decked out in glam rock meets 70s LA cool, Deap Vally are all about bare feet, big hair and tiny shorts.

Gospel-inspired Raw Material kicks off a set loaded with heavy guitar riffs and crashing drums. Amps are turned up to the max and the Electric Ballroom’s wooden floor vibrates with every ferocious hit of Edwards’ kit. The Deap Vally motto should be: if it’s not loud, there’s no point.

Through Gonna Make My Own Money, the band’s feminist power comes to the fore – self-proclaimed “bad ass” Troy belts out her fierce vocals like she’s Janis Joplin in hot pants. The almost unbelievably fast-paced Walk of Shame is the crowd’s favourite, its sentiment obviously resonating with the packed-out Camden audience. During Lies, Troy downs her guitar to hype up the audience, while Edwards performs a drum solo that feels like it could actually bring the house down.

It’s a tight set, finishing with End of the World – a raucous nod to stoner rock that receives a head-bang of approval from even the most macho of Camden’s rockers – and the ridiculously catchy Baby I Call Hell. With that, Troy thanks the audience and Deap Vally exit to raging applause. Whoever said that women can’t rock as hard as men?

Sarah Edmonds
Photos: Zubair Ansari

For further information about Deap Vally and future events visit Deap Vally’s website here.

Watch the video for End of The World here:

Related Itemslive musicreview

More in Live music

Vienna New Year’s Day Concert at the Musikverein

★★★★★
Michael Higgs
Read More

Rufus, Martha and Lucy Wainwright Present: A Not So Silent Night “Virtually Together”

★★★★★
Francis Nash
Read More

Pete Tong and the Heritage Orchestra: Ibiza Classics – O Come All Ye Ravers at the O2 Arena Online

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Courtney Barnett live from the Royal Exhibition Building Melbourne

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Gorillaz: Song Machine Live

★★★★★
Sylvia Unerman
Read More

Andrea Bocelli at Teatro Regio di Parma Online

★★★★★
Dan Meier
Read More

Foy Vance: Hope in the Highlands

★★★★★
Georgie Cowan-Turner
Read More

Liam Gallagher: Down by the River Thames

★★★★★
Jonathan Marshall
Read More

Blossoms at Brixton Academy

★★★★★
Mae Trumata
Read More
Scroll for more
Tap
  • Popular

  • Latest

  • TOP PICKS

  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
  • Live Lab at The Yard Theatre: An interview with associate director Cheryl Gallagher
    Theatre
  • Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • The Capote Tapes
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • Crobar: Music When the Lights Go Out
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • Assassins: Exclusive new clip
    Cinema
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Uncategorised
  • Schemers
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • Green stars, two female chefs at the top and a controversially quick award: This is 2021 UK Michelin Guide during the pandemic
    Food & Drinks
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Uncategorised
  • Arlo Parks – Collapsed in Sunbeams
    ★★★★★
    Album review
  • Identifying Features
    ★★★★★
    Cinema
  • We Still Fax at ANTS Theatre Online
    ★★★★★
    Theatre
The Upcoming
Pages
  • Contact us
  • Join mailing list
  • Join us
  • Our London food map
  • Our writers
  • Support us
  • What, when, why

Copyright © 2011-2020 FL Media

Bob Dylan: Mood Swings at Halcyon Gallery | Exhibition review
Editors at Brixton Academy | Live review