The Peth, Hoxton Bar & Grill, July 10th
Friday, 11 Jul 2008 16:34
Rhys Ifans fronts psych-rockers the Peth
"Who the f**k are the Peth?" may well have been the first reaction to hearing about this much hyped gig at the Hoxton Bar & Kitchen on Thursday night.
Indeed those were the exact words carried by the band's merchandising stand outside the stage exit, and unfortunately, given the performance of the ten (yes TEN) piece outfit, it looks like it is a question that will continue to be asked into the future.
The Peth are of course the bizarre combination of Rhys Ifans (of Notting Hill, Little Nicky and Sienna Miller fame) and Guto Pryce and Dafydd Ieuan from the Super Fury Animals... as well as what appeared to be seven of their friends having a jam!
They opened with Shoot on Sight, a raucous (if somewhat illegible) swaggering rock number that Ifans simply didn't pull off, with the majority of faces in the crowd appearing somewhat confused at what they were witnessing. Why is the middle-aged lodger from Notting Hill swaggering around and demanding beer as if he were Liam Gallagher in 1995? Why is there a woman dressed as a devil? Is this a Hoxton version of Spinal Tap? Are they for real?!?!
Well, unfortunately the answer is yes, and while Ifans' stock as an actor is creditable, the sight of a man two weeks shy of his 40th birthday swaggering around the stage with the pomp of a young Mick Jagger, was, quite frankly, cringeworthy.
The gig was saved slightly towards the latter half of the set, with Stone Finger (allegedly about his break-up with Sienna Miller) and Let's Go F**king Mental going down reasonably well with the motley crew of Hoxtonites and celebrities (at a final count we had Carl Barat of Libertines fame, Kate Moss, Howard Marks, Gem Archer, Samantha Morton and Sadie Frost in attendance) in attendance. But the verdict has to be "stick to the day job Rhys!" Luckily for him however, the day job is a multi-million pound film career!
The Peth release their debut album The Golden Mile in the autumn.
Jamie Reid