As bands rocket to a certain level of substantial stardom, it is often the first port of call for cynics to question as to why. When you see a garage-rock band arrive on Brighton’s shores, you tend to wade carefully due to the dirge of music in that vein – it appears like Ready Salted crisps – safe and bland but an ensured slight of satisfaction for half the packet, however I was promised something different from Hinds. They seem to set themselves aside from the hype-machine and plethora of devoting Burger Records fans by playing around with different influences, these ranging from Tropical and Caribbean to party-punk. Similarly, the fact that Hinds are a group made up of four females works perfectly giving them a new dynamic that takes this music off of the white, middle-class, male orientation that dominates so frequently.

After releasing their début album Leave Me Alone in early January, they provided the perfect sun kissed warmth we needed with their 12-track back-to-back party. It was contagious and attributed everything from 60s rock’n’roll to The Strokes via Pavement and Sonic Youth along the way; it played around with beach-karaoke aesthetics taking hints from all over to give their music another accessible tinge. Essentially, it was a charming, endearing piece of music and completely allowed one to revel in nostalgia. It was teenage kicks at its finest – whimsical and showered in naiveté. So bumbling inside of a loaded Patterns shaped gun there was a crowd that just needed a single note to set them off, Hinds were to provide the fuse, fire and gunpowder.

If I have ever learnt anything from attending gigs previously, it is that having a big, retro pop number to bring you on-stage is a sure-fire way to get a crowd going. Two that instantly spring to mind are The Wombats (!!) using ‘Karma Chameleon’ and Arctic Monkeys using ‘Bump and Grind’, both easily utilised to set a certain precedent for the band and expectation for the audience, Hinds were no exception giving a nod to Hot Chocolate’s ‘You Sexy Thing’. The crowd by this point were reaching tipping point and security took to the side of the stage.

Opening the set, the group took to the gentle slow-jam of their former years. ‘Warning With The Curling’ is part of the group's pre-Hinds material when they emerged as Deers, it’s a therapeutic cruise down memory lane with plenty of drops in tempo and subtle grunge tinges, something oozing the fault line between Cat Power and PJ Harvey. Bass effortlessly rumbles below yelps and howls and the whine of a kazoo. You could be forgiven for thinking at this point that the gig was going to be a lustful psychedelic haze. You were wrong though, without falling too heavily on cliches, this was the calm before the storm.

The modus operandi of Hinds emerged over the next few tracks taking the crowd soaring through single notches, the likes of ‘Warts’, ‘Trippy Gum’ and ‘Fat Calmed Kiddos’ left no room to breathe. It was exhausting but in the best way possible. The ideology and sincerity behind Hinds lied within their anti-sophistication, their anti-growing up and their doing-it-for-the-kids attitude. Hearing bands bleat on about “peace and freedom” can grow tiresome in the years of do or die capitalism, it’s not the bloody 60s anymore after all. However, when Hinds did it, there was naivety and innocence in the same fashion that I would embed myself in when I was 17. They believed in it and it really came across with sentiment – this is music for the kids, it was ramshackle and sounded like The Breeders and Black Lips coming together, teenagers embraced this by smuggling pocketed Smirnoff miniatures in, pinched off their folks.

‘Walking Home’ and ‘Chilli Town’ appeared as the two stand out songs and saw bodies flung up into the sky; such force was used by their buddies below that you got the sense they never really cared too much about seeing them again providing they reached a minimum height of 20ft. The knack of Hinds reaching their sound was the resolute rhythm section below. It had to remain vigorously tight in order for the guitars to play around on top, it was not polished music and it was not supposed to be, however this relied largely upon the solidarity between bass and drums. Much in a Libertines-esque fashion, ‘Chilli Town’ played with jangling guitars and loose lead sections giving it rigorously attractive and catchy hooks. The lo-fi, ramshackle theme continued whilst embracing happy-go-lucky Beach Boy surf stylistics in the aforementioned ‘Walking Home’.

As the set wore on, technical difficulties emerged, both because of pure bad luck but also because the crowd was becoming more intolerable, much to security’s disappointment but everyone else’s excitement. As frontwoman CC called for calm in the crowd, the crowd gave hell back. The set was all but cut with CC, bassist Ade Martín and drummer Amber Grimbergen valiantly marching on as a three piece, however the flicker of Ana García Perrote’s guitar suggested the show could finally go on. With three songs left, the reinvigorated Hinds flushed into the punk numbers ‘San Diego’, ‘Garden’ and ‘Castigadas en el Granero’, much to the crowd's enthusiasm. Eruptions were forecasted and bodies flew for the umpteenth time, it provided the greatest curtain call as kids leapt up on stage, taking over the microphones and howling with pleasure.

Hinds showed tonight that music is still for the kids. This sort of music takes off from what the indie rock’n’roll scene let Generation Y bounce along to when I grew up. Alcohol was smuggled in whilst a largely 17/18 year old audience swelled below, jeering one another along to the ramshackle garage-rock’n’roll, punk of Hinds. To some, this type of crowd may be irritating, youngsters bouncing around however, when you look deeply, it is just another representation of what the majority of all music fans were like at that age. Reckless, carefree, ramshackle, naive and innocent. These are the best five adjectives to summarise Hinds and ultimately, the perfect memory they left me with. Good job, that was fun.
Tom Churchill

Website: hindsband.com
Facebook: facebook.com/hindsband
Twitter: twitter.com/hindsband