The legendary venue, now refurbished, played host to ‘Hands Off Gretel’. The North London setting was chosen as the album launch for their new offering, 'I want the World', although the band hails from South Yorkshire with a sound that owes something more to Seattle. Foreplay was by provided by ‘Pussy Liquor’, the support act, whetting everybody’s appetite with their modern update on raucous Post-Punk. Enter the stage ‘Hands Off Gretel’ who were greeted with great enthusiasm and kicked off their set with ‘Kiss Me Girl’. 
 
Front woman Lauren Tate has the look and the presence to carry this blistering opening off (witness the amount of camera phones held aloft). Her voice ranges from gravelly drawl to pristine Pop which allows the band to vary their mood on the album set-list from grungy workouts to tender balladry. Crucially, this allows them to employ the loud-quiet-loud dynamic within  singular songs which was a trademark of early 90’s Grunge bands. 
 
The lyrical content of their songs are self -confessional and packed with raw emotion as you would expect from this genre. This gives the album a self-cathartic feel, but I would be interested to see if Tate could make more political/satirical observations about the world around her, which may develop in later material.
 
Musically, the bassist, Becky Baldwin has a punchy urgency in her playing and an animated stage presence characterised by a swirl of head-banging hair. At one point the band break into a rendition of the Stooges ‘I Want to Be your Dog’ which kicks off an impromptu mosh-pit, and it’s palpably clear that the energy on stage has permeated into the room.
 
Ivan De Mello