Music / Review
Review: The Oozes, Rough Trade – ‘Wonderfully camp and bursting with silliness’
As I’m waiting for The Oozes at Rough Trade, I’m suddenly aware that I’m really, really underdressed.
The crowd are all wearing the same uniform: huge collars covered by layers of chains and dyed hair, fishnets poking out of platform boots. Most noticeable is the clown makeup.
The Oozes are the only band that can dress like clowns and actually look cool. The whole gig is wonderfully camp, bursting with silliness and fizzing queer energy.
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Support act Gender Crisis are formidable: frenetic and messy, yet still polished. Within the first five minutes, frontperson Rory has parted the crowd, using the sticky Rough Trade floor as their runway.
Drummer Archie mouths ‘I love you’ from the stage, and it’s all sickeningly wholesome.
The evening is overflowing with love. The Oozes introduce a song dedicated to their trans fans, and they have to step back and wait for us to stop cheering.
Frontman Tombo explains that if the crowd’s family don’t accept them, the room is their family now. Performing track Just Wait, he points at us in turn as he repeats ‘my friends’, and it’s completely sincere.
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They launch into a punk-rock mash-up of Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! and Hung Up, and are met by utter pandemonium. It’s bold to cover ABBA and Madonna in one sweep, but they do it like no one else.
The Oozes are queer icons themselves.
The gig is so much more than a gig – it’s a performance, a party. A celebration complete with snacks too, bassist Ciara laughing that they need to be ‘more professional’ as they rip open a packet of biscuits on stage.
It’s impressive that the band have managed to create such a safe, queer space so easily, and it’s moving to see so many young people being completely themselves.
There’s a moment when guitarist Cherry steps forward for a solo, and the crowd jokingly bow to her. But it goes beyond the bit – the band deserve this kind of praise.
As they leap down from the stage to sign various pride flags, it’s clear how important their music is.
The Oozes are the new leaders of the queer punk rebellion, and the soundtrack is magical.
Main photo: Mia Smith
Read next:
- Review: Butler, Blake and Grant, Redgrave Theatre – ‘Three musicians strumming and harmonising beautifully’
- Review: cktrl, Rough Trade – ‘Dreamy soundscapes filled the venue’
- Review: The Dream Syndicate, The Fleece – ‘Every song a stone cold classic’
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