As endorsements go, British politician Tom Watson’s declaration of support for UK noise duo Drenge was certainly left-of-field. Announcing his resignation as a public representative, the Scottish MP signed off by urging constituents to immediately familiarise themselves with the English twosome. “If you want to see an awesome band,” he wrote in the letter confirming he was stepping down, “I recommend Drenge.”
Clearly punters at July’s Longitude festival weren’t staying abreast of UK politics as Watson’s recommendation had fallen on palpably deaf ears. Headlining one of the smaller stages on Sunday, the duo of Eoin and Rory Loveless (wonderfully these are, in fact, their real names) played to literally a dozen people, several of whom had apparently stumbled into the tent in a fruitless search for the loos. For their troubles they were treated to 40-minutes of thrillingly spasmodic alt rock, tunes that chugged and wailed and split the difference between Sonic Youth and The White Stripes.
On their debut album, the glorious rough edges have been maintained. Set aside the juvenile lyrics and ‘People In Love Make Me Yuck’ is a bluesy romp that repositions The Black Keys in the English midlands – the siblings hail from exotic Derby – while ‘I Want To Break You In Half’ and ‘Gun Crazy’ fuse youthful nihilism with a distinctly mature stance on tunefulness (angry as hell and you can hum the choruses). The next time Drenge pass through, you suspect they’ll draw rather a larger crowd.

Key Track: People In Love Make Me Yuck