The Frankly's/The Remnants

Sixty Million Postcards, Bournemouth

It’s a humid Thursday evening down at Postcards as we await the 2 up and coming bands on the local (and national) Garage scene. Local lads The Remnants take to the stage around 10pm and deliver a confident and assured set of largely original material. They open with “I See You”. This is a band who openly wear their influences on their sleeves. Their sound is caught in a crash somewhere between 60’s Britbeat and Garage. By the time they play “That’s All” they have started to create a wall of sound. This only gets stronger as they play “Who?” It has more than a passing nod to “I Am The Walrus” and it’s a tad self-indulgent, but it works. “She’s Got It All” is a highlight as their sound grows ever larger. Laur (guitar/vox) shares minimal banter with a few punters while Rhys provides the power. Andy (bass) spends most of the set deep in concentration while Pete (rhythm/vox) adds some vocal accompaniment now and then.

Gone it seems is the early Beatles influence, in favour of an altogether fuller sound. The penultimate song “Girls” is played, despite the band not planning to use the track tonight. However, they go out on a high with the “Faces” classic “Whatcha Gonna Do About It”. They make it their own without straying too far from the original. And that (as they say) is that.

The Remnants 1–2–3–4

A quick turnaround sees The Frankly’s take to the stage some 10 minutes later. I don’t want to state the obvious, but an all female cast will always pull a crowd! As the girls tune up a small audience immediately grows larger as they launch into the first song. With no setlist to refer to song titles are scarce, so I’ll concentrate on the performance.

With a genre defined as Rock & Roll/Garage the girls waste no time in bludgeoning us with a huge wall of sound virtually from the off. This is a band big in hair and bigger in sound. Nicole (drums) is the chief noisemaker, hitting with power throughout, while Zoe (bass) simply looks stunning to her left, pulling the odd shape. Jen (lead vox/rhythm guitar) looks striking in her ‘blue outfit’ and her voice carries well almost throughout. If I pick up one similarity it is that of sounding (in places) like Grog Rox from goth/rockers Die So Fluid, but the similarities end there.

The Franklys 1–2–3–4–5

Quite early on I’m reminded of the whole “Riot Grrrl” scene, in particular the likes of The Breeders and Veruca Salt. The Frankly’s are loud, powerful and brash in places. One track in particular stands out- “Comedown”, which is huge! “Fanny” (lead guitar) is hidden most of the evening behind her mane as she uses every minute inch afforded her on this tiny stage. “Bad News” is another highlight but with a set comprising a miserly 40 minutes I feel a little short changed. I’ll forgive them though, it’s quite a long tour in this heatwave we are experiencing. If the Frankly’s are to set themselves apart from the crowd I feel they need to diversify a little. I just left feeling I’ve heard it all before. I hope I’m proved wrong.

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The Franklys