(((O))) Live: Death Valley Girls • Bella and The Bizarre – Hare & Hounds, Birmingham

Double bill of garage girls on a Tuesday night? Ahh go on then, why not? Bella and The Bizarre are from Berlin and playing their first ever UK show. They seem pretty pleased about it, as are we. They’ve got wigs and thrift-shop glamour, a stylishly impractical bag full of surf/garage/girl group moves, bright energy. I’m an absolute pushover for this kind of deal so I’m grinning like an idiot. Bella’s guitar has the Starship Enterprise hand painted on it in charmingly naïve style. They’re kinda perfect, and they can also really play.

Proficiency isn’t always a necessity with this sort of thing, but the band have a firm handle on the styles they’re drawing from and a sharp control of tempo. By which I mean the songs speed up and slow down a lot and, unlike some garage bands, they’re doing it on purpose, all at the same time. Bella has a great voice and works some lovely harmonies with the bass player, particularly on a song I think is called ‘Bumpy Ride’ which makes regular stops for them to briefly channel the Andrews Sisters. I didn’t know until tonight but Bella’s dad is King Khan and she is, therefore, garage rock royalty already. I guess the musical genes are strong and the apple doesn’t fall so far from the tree. If you want a criticism, she maybe hasn’t stamped her own identity on the songs just yet. As if garage is about the songs.

I’m no expert on Death Valley Girls, but it seems there’s been one of the band’s periodic changes of personnel since last album Islands in the Sky. Notably, founding guitarist Larry Schemel has gone, and mainstay Bonnie Bloomgarden appears to have assembled a new all female band, meaning Death Valley Girls are now, indeed, all girls. They are having a brilliant time; a sense of the shared joy of playing music together radiates from the stage. Bloomgarden is smaller and a great deal more smiley than I expected, and she fizzes with positive energy.  

Islands in the Sky saw them really embrace their cosmic side, and add some more saxophone to their sound. The new line-up brings some amazing vocal harmonies and puts the sax up front and centre. Less cosmic journey and more raucous rock ‘n’ roll dance party. It’s melodious and bold, not jazz or atonal skronk. It puts me in mind of Roxy Music but that might just be her heavy blue eye shadow. The overall effect is very 70s in feel though, amped up rock ‘n’ roll, proto punk. Strikingly unfashionable but undeniably tremendous fun.    

Last month they put out a single with covers of Fleetwood Mac and Link Wray. In some ways this seems to mark out the opposing extremes of their music, although neither are exactly typical choices. Link’s ‘Fire and Brimstone’ is the one that’s currently part of their set. Not the kind of low slung instrumental he’s known for, his own version is almost like an acoustic campfire chant. Death Valley Girls turn it into a rousing, garage gospel celebration. They follow that with a sparky ‘Magic Powers’, throw in a new one and end on a burning, unstoppable run through ‘Disaster (Is What We’re After)’. A touch more Saturday night abandon wouldn’t have hurt some of the crowd but friends, it was a considerable emotional uplift for a Tuesday.