White Fang at Rough Trade East

One thing is sure about these four trash-punk-pop guys from Portland: they are absolutely crazy, offering a humorous live performance on stage. White Fang are like a colourful party at which you are very drunk, a crazy teenagers’ party where everyone is very drunk and stoned at the same time.

The band have great features: they have a youthful energy on record and on stage, and a clever and smart white trash irony, which means songs with titles like Waste My Time, I Want a Party, Can’t Deal with Being Real, Pissing in the Driveway, just to report a few of them. Their best skill is this punk DIY attitude, very common in the US and especially in Portland. This attitude is particularly evident in the band’s record label Gnar Taps, who release artists like Le Elbow, Keel Her, The Future Dead and The Boys Age. But this attitude shouldn’t deceive – these are four good musicians, all of them with a good background and with strong musical knowledge.

At Rough Trade East, the band played in front of a small but warm audience, their music taken from the new record Full Time Freaks and the previous Steady Trucking for Summer and High Expectations, entertaining with jokes and weird dances on stage (the singer is a real showman). Their music is somewhere between the 90s and the 00s with some pop features à la Pavement, some noise elements from Black Eyes and some punk characteristics in the shade of Cheap Time and Redd Kross. For sure the band put on a worth-watching show, but perhaps not in a shop during the day, more like a smelly dark and smoky club in Hackney.

 

Lorenzo Cibrario
Photos: Adam Bennett

For further information and future events visit White Fang’s website here.

Watch the video for Can’t Deal with Being Real here: