Gorilla was heaving. The room filled wall to wall, the crowd pressed in around the stage, everyone jostling for a clear view of Man/Woman/Chainsaw, a six-piece originally from South London who slotted straight into Manchester’s famously eclectic and hungry gig-going scene.
Off the back of their debut album Cannonball cracking the UK Top 40, Man/Woman/Chainsaw have picked up a fanbase that seems to span every age bracket going, and tonight’s crowd, all bopping along at the first opportunity, proved it.
First up were Bathing Suits, a dance-punk, electro-noise outfit formed in Leeds’ notoriously DIY party scene. Freyja Blevins took vocals and drum machine, George Dickinson and Alex Mulholland played guitar, and Elise Hughes held down bass, the four of them working in practised tandem through a set that was high-intensity and, at points, entirely surreal. Mulholland pressed a glass bottle to his guitar strings at one point, a classic blues slide technique put to thoroughly unclassic use.
As the set wore on and the heat of a well-sold room took its toll, Freyja began shedding clothes piece by piece, eventually finishing the set in nothing but underwear and a suspender belt, keeping the crowd fully briefed throughout: “I’m just going to take my jeans off,” met with cheers and screams. Bathing Suits built through shifting tempos to a genuinely dramatic finish, and by the time they left the stage, the room was primed for the headliners.
After a 30-minute changeover, violinist Clio Starwood was the first sign Man/Woman/Chainsaw were close, leaning into the crowd to trade finger-hearts between tuning up and checking cables. Once everything was ready, the band walked out to Gorillaz’s ‘D.A.R.E.’, vocalist Vera Leppänen leading the way with a plastic, chainsaw-shaped bubble machine in hand. All six looked as though they’d come from at least three different parties, which tracks with just how many influences show up in the music itself.
They opened with ‘Only Girl’, Clio’s violin easing the crowd back in over Lola Cherry’s drums, the two locking in early to set the whole band’s rhythm. Six people on one stage initially reads as a lot to take in, but watching each of them in turn made it clear how essential every part was, guitar, bass, keys, violin and drums all doing distinct work rather than filling space. The stage backdrop, blown up from the Cannonball artwork’s poster-covered teenage bedroom, gave the whole thing the feel of watching a rehearsal in someone’s crowded room rather than a proper venue.
From there the set swung between high-energy cuts like ‘Scab’ and ‘Adam and Steve’ and the slower, heavier ‘Still Angry’ and ‘Something Else to Give’, giving the crowd room to catch their breath and actually take in the lyrics alongside the melodies. Vocals moved around the band: mostly Leppänen, but Billy Ward stepped in with his own, slightly eerie delivery on ‘The Thing’ and ‘Goddamn, Lizard Man!’, and keyboardist Emmie-Mae Avery took the lead on ‘Get Up and Dance’. Between the shared vocals, Clio’s violin and Billy Doyle bowing his electric guitar for a cello-like edge, Man/Woman/Chainsaw make a decent case for tearing up the standard alt-live-show format altogether.
A cover of the Breeders’ ‘Cannonball’ made for a neat nod to the album title, reworked enough to feel like their own while keeping the pull of the original intact.
‘Nosedive’ closed the night, the band pulling from some apparently bottomless reserve of energy to get the whole room moving, Vera goading the crowd with “if you don’t dance, it’s embarrassing!” before setting off the bubble machine over the front rows. She backed up her own words, headbanging and throwing her hair around, while Clio kept dancing right up until the band walked off.
Man/Woman/Chainsaw are a genuine powerhouse, and a proper change of pace from what you’d expect walking into a normal gig. The unconventional instrumentation is a real breath of fresh air, and there’s something infectious about watching a band this clearly thrilled to be up there. Cannonball‘s Top 40 placing was well earned, and on this evidence Man/Woman/Chainsaw aren’t slowing down any time soon, especially with a return to Manchester at New Century Hall already on the books.
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