ESG at Fiddlers Club in Bristol review

Image: ESG 

It comes as no surprise that seminal punk-funkers ESG have drawn a sizeable crowd down to the Fiddlers club tonight, despite the miserable weather on this Thursday evening. Not only is this rare UK appearance the very first time they’ve ever played in Bristol, but according to the band it’s also their final spate of live shows before calling it quits. With that in mind this was simply not an event to miss. 

Hailing from the South Bronx, the outfit formed in 1978 and originally comprised of the Scroggins sisters. They first came into prominence during the early eighties through New York’s thriving post-disco underground, and honed a genre-bending repertoire that connected the dots between funk, hip hop, post-punk and disco. They've since went through the motions of disbanding and reforming twice over, although each time featuring adjustments to the line-up.  

The current incarnation in force this evening is led by vocalist Renee Scroggins, who is the sole member of the original line-up. While the remainder included a backing vocalist, drummer, bassist and a percussionist/conga player – whose frenzied dancing throughout the night could rival even the shapely moves of Happy Mondays freaky dancer Bez.  

It wasn’t just the conga player getting down to the tunes though. For by the time the band opened up with the stripped down soul of ‘You’re No Good’ (above), the show shortly erupted into one massive party on the dancefloor. They continued with a flurry of their most popular records including groovy sing-along jams like ‘Dance’ and ‘Moody’ , which are all met with rousing appreciation from a packed out crowd, who danced away with delight.

The audience was fairly mixed gender-wise and appeared to be of varying ages, ranging from around early twenties and upwards, which just goes to show how far ESG’s influence and appeal travels.

Although the bulk of their work is limited to drums, bass and lashings of percussion, their music is so compelling that it’s difficult to resist moving to the poly-rhythmic beats and grooves that are clearly made for dancing, as witnessed amongst the vibrant crowd tonight.

It’s fascinating that even decades on these dance-orientated tracks have proved to stand the test of time. ‘Moody’ (below) in particular was a popular weapon of choice for the late exemplary DJ Larry Levan back in the halcyon days of the NY’s legendary Paradise Garage. 

Not only do ESG stand in a league of their own with their minimalist take on funk, they’re also a dab hand at crafting funky, post-punk driven instrumentals as well. And it’s this kind of ground-breaking sound that led to the band being signed to Tony Wilson’s Factory Records for the release of their debut EP back in 1981.

‘Tiny Sticks’ and the widely sampled ‘UFO’ are tracks worthy of note from the evening’s set list. Both of which went down amazingly well. The latter number saw Renee pick up the guitar to play the droning one note riff, while the highly entertaining conga player Nicholas Nicholas took centre stage and frolicked around in an alien-faced mask for the songs duration. A slightly random moment, but it had the amused crowd roaring in an ambivalent state of laughter, joy and admiration all the same.  

His musicianship didn’t go unnoticed though. Whenever he wasn't dancing or furiously beating away at the congas, he was drawing from his arsenal of worldly percussion instruments that included shakers, scrapers, tambourines, cowbells, claves and even a vibra slap, all of which brilliantly accentuated the sparse rhythms.

The rhythm section that laid down the main groundwork was also tight as ever. And Renee’s vocals were in fine form - still oozing the sassy hip hop attitude of her younger days. There was lots of interaction with the audience during the performance and a stage presence that exuded heaps of fun. At one point egg shakers were handed to a couple of punters near the front of the stage.  One of whom happened to be Bristol’s live music connoisseur, Big Jeff, who got well involved on the shaking act.

If there was just one thing to enhance the performance then it would have been to hear a little extra guitar utilised on a couple more songs, particularly set closer ‘Erase You’ (above) which has a prominent guitar riff on the original studio recording. However as the band proved to achieve its objective of keeping the crowd dancing from start to finish, this minor detail can easily be overlooked. This was an unforgettable evening of live dance music in its rawest form, from a very special band.

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