House Gig, Corfe Castle
After getting totally mugged off by the pandemic in a big way, brothers Johnny and George Marriott of punk band “Pet Needs” had to rethink their future plans. Tours and festival slots were cancelled and on the day that they were meant to be performing at the mighty O2 Berlin Arena, they were taking their allowed daily constitutional around a reservoir. The hurdles helped open up an opportunity to finish writing and recording their debut album, “Fractured Party Music”; which was released in 2020 to very positive reviews.
Fast forward to 2022 and after yet another cancelled tour the band have taken their fate into their own hands by organizing a 10 date “Borrowed Toothpaste” tour, performing intimate gigs in fans houses. The deal is that the home owners invite their friends and relatives along to watch the band perform a high energy acoustic set. The tour is funded with donations from the audience and merchandise sales, including specially made “The Borrowed Toothpaste” tour t-shirts.
Tonight the band roll into the picturesque Isle of Purbeck village of Corfe Castle at the home of music fans Tim & Emma; who live in a lovely Purbeck stone cottage with their three daughters and dog “Twix”. Tim & Emma have put on a few house gigs before and are always very welcoming hosts, feeding their guests with a huge buffet and there are lots of wonderful chats about gigs past and future. After getting reacquainted with their friends, family and gig buddies it was finally time for Pet Needs to take to the stage – I say stage, I mean living room floor! A bit of furniture shifting had to be done before Johnny and George could set up, including removal of Twix’s bed and the family TV.
After doing my homework prior to the gig and listing to all the band’s back catalogue, it was a no brainer to be here tonight in favour of many other events happening in the area. Their infectious tunes were an instant hit to my ears and after just a few listens of their album I was hooked. It’s usually quite difficult for any act to capture the energy of a full-on live performance in an acoustic setting, but Johnny and George from the off inject so much energy into their performance. Opening number “Outline” sets the benchmark, before big hitters the wonderfully titled “Punk Isn’t Dead; It’s Just Up For Sale” and “Scratch Card” get the 20 or so audience members singing at the tops of their voices and even Twix joins in with his own canine sounds!
These guys are not only great performers, their songs all have matching stories to go with them and the engaging almost folkish way that they deliver them makes the songs multi-dimensional. The boys are happy to share stories and we are all very willing to listen. The song on which the tour is named “Toothpaste” is a clear highlight, a track that positively bounces along with its catchy anthemic chorus. A cover of Pulp’s “Common People” takes us on a trip back to the 1990’s with this eutrophic classic before transcending into “Tracey Emin’s Bed”, a song about a piece or artwork (which was just a messed up bed) that sold at auction for 2.5 million pounds. The band after an energetic 40 minutes get a standing ovation from the crowd and we are treated to an encore of “Dallas”. Maybe not Berlin Arena but the crowd at Halves Cottages all certainly enjoyed their night’s entertainment and show their appreciation loudly for the whole of the village to hear. Remember that name, “Pet Needs” – I’m sure that we will be hearing that name quite a lot in the near future.
Set List
Outline
Sympatheric
Pavlovian
Punk Isn’t Dead; It’s Just Up For Sale
Roses
Roof
As The Spin Cycle Span
Embers
Scratch Card
Kayak
Overcompensating
Toothpaste
Common People (Pulp Cover)
Tracey Emin’s Bed
Dallas
Videos
Links
https://petneedsband.com
https://www.facebook.com/wearepetneeds
Words & Media David Chinery (Chinners).
