Trudy, Pink Kink, Ohmns, Nelson: The GIT Award Launch, Buyers Club, Liverpool

As the GIT Award 2016 launched with a party at the Buyers Club, Getintothis’ Shaun Ponsonby was there to see four of Liverpool’s best new talents in action.

The GIT Award 2016 launched in celebratory style last Friday with a night of exhilarating performances at the Buyers Club.

In characteristic GIT Award fashion, the evening brought together Liverpool’s vast array of new musical styles while also promoting the city’s best brand new artists.

The night started early, with Harvey Brown warming the crowd up with his moody ambience in his live debut before and between sets. Rapper Nelson won the swelling Buyers Club crowd over with his first ever gig. We at Getintothis HQ have been singing Nelson’s praises for a while now, and if he hadn’t have told us from the stage that it was his debut live outing we never would have known. He oozed confidence, and his socially conscious lyrics struck a chord with the early birds. Stand outs included the jazz-inflected Rhapsody and Earl Sweatshirt inspired January.

After such a quality start to the night, it was hard to know how it could progress, and then along came Ohmns. This is punk as it should be; a perfect counter-point to boring, bland slickness.

Technically speaking, they were a hilarious shambles in the best possible way. It was that Replacements attitude of “we know we’re shit, and we don’t care…fuck you”.  It was glorious. There were still some bemused faces in the crowd by the time they ended with a song that we think we were told was called Fuck Sean Penn Cos Sean Penn’s a Grass (we could have misheard that, and we have reason to believe that it wasn’t the real title even if we didn’t), but those who “got” it fell in love, and those who didn’t? Well…fuck you.

The GIT Award 2016: Meet the judging panel for this year’s event.  

Pink Kink appeared to be a well-oiled machine in comparison, though that’s probably just in the context of following Ohmns. They tore the place apart in a different way than their predecessors; this was pop in it’s most delicious and digestible form and having a host of great songs that wouldn’t feel out of place in CBGB’s in 1977. There was something incredibly infectious and instant about this quartet’s loose yet adorable jams. And when their set closer (the stand out of the night, perhaps) roared to a climax the entire Buyers Club was left in a juicy, fuzzy mess. It felt glorious. A triumph.

Following up were Pink Kink buddies Trudy. A band that have already made a considerable dent in the Merseyside music landscape with a super-fine outing supporting Hooton Tennis Club in December. Big loose chops, throwback 50s grooves and a languid rhythm section gives off a devilishly throwaway attitude wrapped up in instant-winning melodies.

After Trudy closed the night out with a reliably crowd-pleasing slice of good ole garage rock, we headed downstairs for Bido Lito!’s DJs. If the beaming faces and excitable chatter down there told us anything, it’s that Liverpool’s got a lot going for it right now. Sometimes it’s nice to be reminded of that.

Pictures by Getintothis’ John Johnson and Martin Saleh.

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• Getintothis would like to thank all the artists, staff at Buyers Club, Archiphonic, itsLiverpool, Bido Lito!, LIMF, all those who attended and everyone who made The GIT Award 2016 launch such a memorable evening.

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