It’s only a week or so since we made Joana And The Wolf‘s new single ‘Hide Me’ single of the week on GIITTV, so it seemed only fair to get along to Favela Chic to see them live for the official launch party. This Shoreditch venue is something of a regular haunt for this band, a chance to get up close and personal with a crew who have otherwise got a summer full of festivals looming.
They opened snap bang with the new single, which shows a certain confidence about the strength in depth of their material. I realise now that when I first heard this song a few weeks ago, I got it wrong, in the recorded version at least. The song wails along beautifully and I at first leapt to the view that was emanating solely from Joana. Well, go on then, it does to some extent arise from the howling of her inner wolf, but at least as big a part of this soaring comes from the rest of the band, particularly Ali’s screeching, scratching guitar. Showing similarity of approach with a certain band called The Smiths back in the day, it’s when they let loose live that you realise what a damn fine rock’n’roll outfit you’re dealing with.
That’s not to minimise the leading lady’s input here, for guttural drama, Ms Glaza takes some beating. In typical form she held up a bandaged hand to evoke our sympathy, explaining that the nasty injury had been caused by getting too friendly feeding new wolves in her kitchen, which seems as good a reason as any. She isn’t totally unhinged, but lives fully in role when she’s behind a mic stand. There are certainly worse beliefs to have than that you have a lupine entity sharing your soul.
It being the single launch, and the band being photogenic, there was standing room only for photographers. There was still chance enough for full audience effect, and by the time we got to the end of the fairly short set, there were eruptions of dancing and whooping from the floor. I love the modesty of this band, and it was in self effacing response to an audience that wouldn’t stop clapping that they treated us to an encore, that being their very special dissective treatment of ‘Oops I Did It Again’. I know I get enthusiastic, but this lovely lot are truly worth it, so if you find yourself anywhere in their vicinity on the circuit this summer, get along and find out for yourself. Just don’t get bitten.
Words and photos – Mike Hughes
