Live in Manchester - pyncher
A night full of pynch-me moments
Not many bands could sell out a gig on a gloomy Tuesday night in February. But after five years together, pyncher can’t just pull in a crowd of some of the best moustaches to be seen outside of Ancoats, they can somehow turn midweek melancholy into a night of musical melodrama.
Held at Gullivers, on Oldham St: Manchester ‘s own music mile, the venue was buzzing. Clambering up the stairs to Gullivers’ ballroom, it’s full of artists, indie boys and stylish women. Greeted by a “proud pyncher parent”, the mother of Harvey O’Toole, the band’s guitarist, you’re welcomed like family.
The room felt free and the beer was flowing just as the support took to the stage. Dove Ellis began to sing and the room would have fallen silent if not for the sound of jaws hitting the floor like marbles. Mouths agape, the zombie crowd were stunned at Ellis as if he were Jeff Buckley incarnate. Haunting the room under red light, the set flew by. It turns out, all you need to fall in love with a band you’ve never seen is a saxophone, a piano and a tall Irish man in a Navy surplus jacket.
Walking through the crowd pyncher start their set with a quick hello and a whole load of feedback. ‘Steely Dan’ begins, and the room bounces as the audience sing along. Gullivers begins to feel like the centre of the sun as frontman Sam Blakely bewitches the audience, lowering himself to our level to indulge in our adoration.
‘Shapeshifter’ starts, and Blakely turns it up a notch. Art becoming reality, he moves across the stage, energy dripping from his forehead. He seems superhuman, enigmatic and captivating.
The band are cool in equal parts. The frontman’s theatrical performance is balanced by the nonchalant bass player Britt Dewhurst, she looks composed and cool as f*ck. Harvey O’Toole jitters around like an effervescent tablet you’ve just lobbed in a pint of water. On the drums Jack Rainbow plays like a kid who’s just been told he’s going to Disneyland.
The band build suspense playing repetitive chord progressions in between songs, with the drums stopping entirely. Blakely laughs: “anyone got a drum pedal?”. Even with an issue on stage the frontman charms the crowd with his humour until a drum pedal emerges seemingly from heaven, crowd surfing until reaching the hands of our messiah for the night. He picks up the pedal like a phone and the crowd roar in laughter.
Four turns to five as the band welcome JP Asumu, because the only way pyncher could get better is by adding some keys.
The newest single, ‘Get Along’, sends the mosh pit into a spin cycle as the set comes to a close.
‘Goodbye’ feels like a lullaby as the crowd float inches off the sticky floor, high on the knowledge that we’ve just seen the most exciting up and coming band on the Manchester scene.