Dropping into London’s famed Sebright Arms for Dork’s Night Out, Do Nothing are ready to embark on their most glorious chapter to date with a night full of celebration and special looks at what’s to come.
But first, having become the talk of London Town very quickly indeed, openers Mary In The Junkyard are the latest must-see new band. Tight and bubbling guitars stretch across primal raw licks in the sort of undeniable manner that leaves you wanting to know and hear more. Lush and almost orchestral at one moment, ripping with grunge energy the next. With no music out, they’re as new as you can get yet already sounding fully formed. It’s an experience that will have you rushing to WhatsApp your mates to tell them about a band that EVERYONE will be talking about come 2024. You heard it here first.
For a band who cut their teeth commanding venues like this, Do Nothing step onstage tonight continuing to push things forward in a way nobody else is doing right now. Expanding to a five-piece live, their presence is dialled up to new heights. A band hungry to seize every moment and possessing the sort of locked-in sound that immediately has you hooked, they storm through a set that both celebrates the already frankly ridiculous catalogue of bangers they’ve amassed while also offering a glimpse into what’s to come when that anticipated debut album does land.
‘Lebron James’, ‘Glueland’ and the sizzling ‘Contraband’ are electric favourites unstoppable in nature, while ‘Uber Alles’ and ‘New Life’ cut through the room with frontman Chris Bailey’s croon stopping everyone in their tracks. It’s in the balance of the two where Do Nothing have always shined (as demonstrated with ‘Handshakes’, which is met like a national anthem when it drops late in the show), and always taking sounds past boundaries that most bands would live comfortably within.
‘Happy Feet’, the first taste of Do Nothing’s next moves, is a firecracker live. ‘Amoeba’ is a menacing evolution, ‘Nerve’ embraces ambition with an instant-classic edge that pulls at rock more than ever before, while ‘Snake Sideways’ (introduced as the title-track for their anticipated debut album) sees them go further with a hypnotic, spacious, glitchy and emotionally-powerful statement of intent that may just be one of the finest cuts Do Nothing have ever made.
As ‘Gangs’ sets fire to a night of undeniable brilliance, Do Nothing put their marker down for why 2023 is theirs for the taking, and bigger stages are just waiting to be seized. A force desperately needed in guitar music right now, there’s nobody quite like Do Nothing.
