Drahla

Brudenell Social Club

Supporting Cola (alongside Cad)

"The last bastion of post post-punk"

Drahla in the Highlands for recent recording session with Jamie Lockhart.

Opening tonight's proceedings at the Brudenell Social Club are Cad, showcasing the distorted shoegaze they honed on their latest EP ‘The Steel’. Not only is Alex Pearson (lead vocals) a doppelgänger for Jeremy Allen White, but the intensity of his delivery and rapid microphone twirling was reminiscent of Carmen Berzatto screaming profanities whilst mixing spaghetti.

Our headliners, Cola, have refined a standard formula for minimalist punk which is seasoned well by Tim Darcy's dynamic voice. Overall, the set is well received, but there is the sense that the crowd want a pinch more. Cola's connection with the Brudenell and its community far outlives this band's current lifeform, as they made numerous visits in their previous incarnation as Ought - a band often celebrated by the venue's owner Nathan Clark. As a treat, the band announced they would close with a cover, and rolled into Ought's sprawling single ‘Beautiful Blue-Sky’.

Nevertheless, Stub Quarterly is a celebration of all things local, and so our spotlight is on tonight's middle child; Drahla. The last bastion of post post punk.

Drahla are a band whom I consider to be quintessentially 'Wakefield'. They formed in 2015 (in Wakefield) when Rob Riggs and Luciel Brown completed their initial line-up by inviting Mike Ainsley (a Wakefield gentleman) to join them on drums. Not only that but their ethos is thoroughly DIY, which for the Wakefield music community has always been more of a small town necessity than a choice.

Drahla released a string of singles, prior to their debut LP ‘Useless Coordinates’ in 2019, and then disappeared. After a 992-day break, the band returned with the addition of Ewan Barr (guitar) and released singles 'Under the glass' and 'Lip Sync', culminating in January 2024 with the triumphant release of their second LP 'Angeltape'. The only missing piece to their current lineup is Joe Duffin - their in-demand saxophonist who, for the most part of 2024, has been travelling the globe with Yard Act on their world-domination mission.

There are many things that make Drahla's live show special. Rob Riggs' signature tone bleeds through each song, making every bass player within a mile of LS6 squirm with envy. The space within their music is equally important. Each song changes direction on multiple occasions, the band becoming instrumentally fragmented and then entwined again in a brief moment. It wouldn't be misguided to call Drahla experimental either. Rob Riggs uses string muting almost as supplementary percussion. For 'Grief in Phantasia', Luciel Brown uses a haunting vocal effect that feels like the beginning of a bad dream. Mike even used bongos!

Tonight, the band's setlist is primarily a celebration of 'Angeltape'. However, the band open with a new track that was recently recorded on a trip to a remote corner of Scotland, with long-time collaborator and sound engineer Jamie Lockhart (see picture on the previous page). The song embodies exactly what I love about this band - always different, always the same. It is trademark Drahla, with angular guitars that transition from acute to outright obtuse. A brief chat with a band member reveals that they "fucked it right up". But we didn't know that. We thought they were just being avant-garde.

Words by Magnus Pike. Photo by Drahla (@instantdrahla).