“What do you get if you cross a dog with a telephone? A golden retriever! Wait, damn, that’s not right,” Single Mothers front man Drew Thomson laments. “We’ll try this a few more times throughout the night and eventually we’ll get it right,” he triumphantly adds.
Single Mothers are here, the band which “broke up in 2009 and have been playing shows ever since” are in the suburbs of Leeds on a rainy night – in 2017. The Canadians have one of the more colourful backstories in punk culminating in a sporadic release of EPs within the first couple of years of existence, a significant hiatus and then a return in 2013.
Thomson, the charismatic enigma of a vocalist, is a huge point of intrigue in both his approach to songwriting and life in general. From penning lyrics pouring scorn on the nature of relationships, religion, drink and drugs to working in a literal gold mine in a small Canadian town called Swastika. Along with his drawl singing style – he embodies the ethos of Single Mothers.
And in that, it sets the show up perfectly.
Before we get to the evening’s entree there is the hors d’oeuvre of support Cassels. The Oxford two-piece consisting of brothers Jim and Loz Beck bounce off each other throughout an energetic half-hour set. Showcasing tracks from their latest release ‘Epithet’ they bring a frantic, technical lo-fi sound which compliments the piercing, gritty lyrics depicting the reality of modern life. It’s the ideal vibe for a Single Mothers warm-up act.
As for our Canadian main course, they arrive armed with a new album – ‘Our Pleasure’ – and their first for three years. Strutting out, decked out in dapper black shirt and jean combos they thrash straight into ‘Undercover’ as Thomson seduces his mic stand and – in turn – his audience.
The front man effortlessly owns the room during each song but in the silence between there is a charming, level of groundedness. The first break gives Thomson the opportunity to regale us with his surprisingly large back catalogue of dog jokes and first airs his ‘golden retriever’ gag which he attempts twice before reassuring us that Canadian audiences would “eat these up”.
It’s back into swaggering front man mode as we dip into the Single Mothers annals for an airing of 2012’s ‘Baby’ and the gut-punching ‘Marbles’. Thomson’s sneering vocals fit naturally with the driving intensity of Justis Krar’s guitar work and the only respite we’re given is when the singer breaks off to eulogise about the wonders of Gregg’s.
They have one left in the back pocket before they bid us goodbye launching into the raucous ‘Christian Girls’. It is the very encapsulation of Thomson’s disdain, bemusement and general contempt for human vanity as he screams “jealousy’s attention to the ones who can get it/something like coming in second”.
It feels like this is his way of letting the mask slip and releasing all the pent up frustration he held during that hiatus. What we do know is that it is pretty good to have Single Mothers back in our lives once again.
Before he goes Thomson has one last thing he has to share with us, “what do you get if you cross a dog with a telephone? A golden receiver! Yes! Nailed it!”, he triumphantly proclaims. The jokes do get funnier the more you tell them.
TOM WALSH