After a rather eventful 2018 in which psyche-punk group Dog Of Man released their debut EP, named Musically Transmitted Diseases, as well as headlining a number of shows across the UK, they certainly started this year off strongly as well with their performance at the Green Door Store.

The band essentially partnered up with one of their supporting acts Hot Moth, combining both band names to give the event the creative title of “Mothman eats a Hot Dog”. After arriving at the Green Door Store, I noticed that this little creative decision had a very positive effect on the show as a whole. The venue was decorated accordingly with an array of cutouts that displayed the names of all of the acts that were playing that evening scattered throughout. There was also a very strong sense of light-heartedness amongst the crowd, which is always a promising sign.

After skimming across a few Dog Of Man tracks beforehand, I was definitely excited to see how they would bring their signature style to a live performance.

The first act of the night, Ebony Grace, really caught me off guard with her beautiful acoustic set that got things off to an unexpectedly intimate start. Her powerful vocals and skill using both guitar strings and piano had more and more people joining to witness it for themselves. This set added a touch of diversity to the night and confirmed very early on that this wouldn’t just be the run-of-the-mill psychedelic gig.

The following act Bluebound shared a lot more with the headline act from a stylistic standpoint. As their name suggests, however, they were quite clearly influenced by blues music as it clearly showed in their set. I really enjoyed this band as, not only did their instrumentation remind me a lot of Red Hot Chilli Peppers, but their sheer level of energy and stage presence when playing was the kind that I would expect from a festival set. Their explosive sound filled the venue with a very colourful and dynamic vibe. I also have to give props to their amazing cover of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Fire’, which was really the cherry-on-top when it came to this awesome set.

The penultimate band, Hot Moth, was praised quite a lot by the artists that played beforehand and it definitely made sense as to why during their set. Since they have been playing for around three years now, the music that Hot Moth had to offer felt very refined, while also having that lovable sense of rawness to it, with a very strong earthiness that made each song both catchy and hypnotic.

Not long after the Hot Moth set ended with one last explosive riff, it was time for Dog Of Man to take to the stage, with his accordion at the ready, the frontman (and the rest of the group) seemed prepared to go all out, and go all out they most certainly did.

Following two great psychedelic sets (and a very good acoustic set), it was Dog Of Man that really championed that psychedelia in not only their music, but their surreal mannerisms and humorous banter between songs. The multi-coloured lighting throughout this set also helped convey the psychedelic atmosphere on a visual level.

It was very easy to see that Dog Of Man were a very talented group. The accordion especially was played perfectly and provided this uniquely circus feel to some of the tracks. That, along with the rest of the instruments, conveyed a very high level of energy during their performance and because of this, so did the crowd. They absolutely loved it.

It is always a pleasure to see live shows like this unfold and to see all of the enjoyment in motion and is definitely part of what makes the gig scene so good. Needless to say, it was a very unique performance that really did their style of music justice.

Joe Boothby

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