Live Review: Mclusky & KLÄMP | Electric, Bristol | 31/05/2025
Despite nearly two decades between their new album The World Is Still Here And So Are We and their last full length, post-hardcore heroes Mclusky were welcomed back by an ecstatic crowd of dedicated fans at Bristol's Electric. With industrial noise/post-punk supergroup KLÄMP in tow.
KLÄMP
While KLÄMP may have stuck to the shadowy clubs and smaller stages of the UK’s underground, remaining scene darlings rather than global rock stars, but the collective’s pedigree rivals acts who headline stadiums. Remaining scattered across the UK and The Netherlands, the rotating cast of members includes members of Idles, Petbrick, Pulled Apart By Horses, Tall Ships and Manatees with multiple guitarists, bassists and synth players overlapping to create a dense fog of noise.
Performing as a five piece led by frontman Greg Wynne, KLÄMP screech and groove through half an hour of noisy industrial informed material from their new album TOTAAL TECHNIEK and older, more experimental work from their back catalogue. Whether you understand them or not, KLÄMP are certainly a once in a lifetime experience.
Mclusky
Making waves back in the early noughties with their heavy and absurd mix of hardcore punk energy and witty lyrics, South Wales trio Mclusky burned bright and fast between their debut album in 2000 and their initial breakup in 2005. Appearing sporadically over the last decade, Mclusky regained their status as underground icons with their recently released fourth full length The World Is Still Here And So Are We which captured the same rough and ridiculous energy of their early work.
Despite the line-up change a few years back, with frontman Andy “Falco” Falkous and drummer Jack Egglestone now joined by bassist Damien Sayell (also of The St. Pierre Snake Invasion), this is the same Mclusky that tore up tiny venues across the UK back in the day. Falco remains as sprightly as ever, with the same lightning fast delivery on ‘Lightsabre Cocksucking Blues’ and fiery spit on ‘Collagen Rock’. Although Falco handles both lead vocals and guitar duties, bassist Damien Sayell holds the band together with scene stealing energy, launching himself across the stage like a ginger cyclone. They even had time to bring out IDLES/KLÄMP bassist Adam “Dev” Devonshire for a run around.
While many of the fans in attendance had likely followed the band since their first time around, Mclusky’s newer material managed to keep the crowd transfixed, with tracks such as ‘Autofocus On The Prime Directive’ getting as exaggerated a response as some of the hits. Closing out on fan favourite hit ‘To Hell With Good Intentions’, the trio proved that they’re far from the nostalgia baiting fossils of many of their early 2000s contemporaries, keeping their work both old and new full of the same tongue in cheek adrenaline that made them stand out in the first place.