SKATERS, Joiners, Southampton

With an extensive list of UK and American tour dates ahead of them, garage punk three-piece SKATERS have ditched the New York skyline for a taste of Great Britain – tonight’s stop: Southampton’s Joiners.

With local support from blues-infused punk outfit Shotaway (think FIDLAR’s brash vocals, Arctic Monkeys’ drilling riffs and a Southern twang teamed with some funky knitwear and Hanson-esque hairstyles) and colourful guitar band Poor Michael who sound like a mindboggling hybrid crossover between the Kooks and Metallica, NYC boys SKATERS grace the stage all guns blazing as the opening chords of ‘One Of Us’ ring out.

After a quip about British beer the set blitzes through ‘Armed’’s rumbling drones, which sound more fervent and intense in close proxemics, the familiar ‘Done For Good’ with its lethargic Strokes-esque build up, as well as several shattering, riff-fuelled tracks from their forthcoming album. It’s midway through however where the set peaks, with ‘I Wanna Dance’’s heady restlessness undercut by frontman Michael Cummings’ echoey, lax vocal and topped off with a potent riff.

Ending with EP title track ‘Schemers’ – a three minute song chock full of brazen beats, angsty vocals and a vibrant foot-tapping chorus, SKATERS seem to have hit the nail on the head with their live performance; each track simultaneously echoing and complementing the previous.