Ed’s…
Manchester’s four piece Punksters, PINS, came back to Birmingham on Tues 22nd Sept – playing at the Hare & Hounds, as presented by This is Tmrw. Another chance for Birmingham Review to see them, having missed their previous gig at The Sunflower Lounge, Helen Knott and Paul Reynolds went to cover the gig for THE GALLERY*.
Read Helen Knott’s interview with PINS’ founder, Faith Vern, here – first published on 21.09.15
*Click here, or on the link below, to see the full Flickr of pics from Paul Reynolds in THE GALLERY
Words by Helen Knott / Pics by Paul Reynolds
“Don’t be shy”, purrs PINS’ Faith Vern, as she lures the Hare & Hounds crowd out of its Tuesday night languor.
Manchester four piece, PINS, are visiting Birmingham as part of their latest UK tour, in a year that has seen them release second album, Wild Nights, tour America and support riot grrrl legends Sleater Kinney.
PINS start with ‘Baby Bhangs’, a sleazy fuzz of a track (“love, lusting, it’s disgusting”), before briskly moving through a number of dirgey mid-tempo songs in breathless succession. ‘Young Girls’ feels like sunshine breaking through the clouds after all that, with its breezy backing vocals and 
saccharine guitar lines.
Mid-set, things slow right down for straight-up love song ‘Got it Bad’. Gentle arpeggiated guitars push the vocals to the fore, where things get emotional in a way that’s a sharp contrast to the band’s normal detached swagger. Vern just about manages to pull it off.
Faith Vern is certainly a charismatic front woman who has no regard for the fourth wall, striding through the crowd, serenading us. She invites the women in the audience up on stage for some dancing and backing vocals in penultimate song, ‘Girls Like Us’, which seems to get mashed up with Cyndi Lauper’s ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ somewhere along the way.
A spirited rendition of The Misfits’ ‘Hybrid Moments’ makes for a lively, if not slightly chaotic, end to the evening. And, finally, we’re all feeling a lot less shy.
For more on PINS, visit http://www.wearepins.co.uk/
Support on the PINS tour came from Peace & Love Barbershop Muhmmad Ali, or PALBMA for short – scraping the dirty floor of Garage Rock and flinging it off stage.
Named in homage to the Peace & Love Barbershop on Princess Rd in Moss Side, and its founder/owner Muhammad Ali, PALBMA have recently released on Stolen Body Records.
For more on Peace & Love Barbershop Mohmmad Ali, visit https://soundcloud.com/palbmaband
For more from the Hare & Hounds, visit http://hareandhoundskingsheath.co.uk/
For more from This is Tmrw, visit http://thisistmrw.co.uk/
