Guitar and drums duos in rock ‘n’ roll are having a slight purple patch at the moment. Whether the modern blues rock of Royal Blood or the avant-noise frenzy of Lightning Bolt, there is quite the plethora of two-pieces out there keen to strip things back and make maximum racket on their own terms.
Glasgow’s Sacred Paws bring the noise out with a refreshing lack of grunting testosterone. Formed from the ashes of Golden Grrls, Rachel Aggs (guitar) and Eilidh Rodgers (drums) lock themselves together in a perfect symbiotic groove. A bulging Sneaky Pete’s is playing host to the opening night of a short tour in fanfare of their debut EP “Six Songs” on the Rock Action label.
Sacred Paws have a sound akin to the halcyon days when post-punk bands discovered the joys of dance. Aggs plays slippery and pliable guitar runs belted down by Rodgers tom-hammering away with infectious glee. It’s a dense mesh of African high-life chopped up into 3-4 minute wiry pop nuggets and battered out in a state of joyously ramshackle abandon. Had Rip Rig and Panic been forced to downsize and streamline themselves into a twosome, Sacred Paws may well have been the result.
When dance and funk rhythms were applied to chilly post-punk forms 35 years ago, it was in response to a political agenda of austerity and deindustrialisation. As jobs and securities were in the process of being removed, what could a body do but move to the beats? Sacred Paws continue that riposte forward but as whole-hearted rebuttal and refusal to comply with any bitter state-sponsored medicines demanding obedience and acquiescence in return for meagre favours. To hell with poverty, they may well sing, we’ll get drunk on cheap wine.