Heavy Riffs, Strange Turns and Elvis at Lunch: Outtamind at Dubrek Studios

Irk, Pohl and Rats! Rats! Rats! | Dubrek Studios, Derby | 26 September 2026

There are easier ways to spend a Saturday afternoon than standing in front of three loud bands at Dubrek Studios. There are probably quieter ways, too. Thankfully, a decent crowd had turned up for Outtamind’s matinee by the time the music got going at around 1.30pm. For a gig starting just after lunch, the room was busy, and the bill gave everyone good reason to be there.

Rats! Rats! Rats! got things moving first. The two-piece told us they were from Portsmouth and joked that they had won the award for travelling the furthest to play that day. They had certainly brought plenty of energy with them. Their grunge and garage punk sound was loud, scrappy and a great way to shake off any lingering sense that it was too early for a gig. With their new album Heavy Petting at the Lido released only days before the show, there was fresh material to back up the racket.

Sheffield three-piece Pohl took things in a heavier, weirder direction. Their mix of noise rock, psychedelia and stoner metal had plenty of weight behind it, but there was more going on than simply playing loud. The songs twisted and shifted, giving the set a sense that it could head somewhere unexpected at any moment. They also played material from Split, their forthcoming shared vinyl release with Bristol’s Ogives Big Band. It is due out on 2 October, and hearing a taste of it live made a strong case for keeping an eye on that record.

By the time Irk were due on, I thought I had a reasonable idea of how the afternoon was going. Then an announcement came over the PA asking whether anyone had seen the band’s vocalist, and whether somebody in the room knew the words well enough to stand in. I didn’t think much of it. After all, their singer had been at the gig all day.

Then he turned up dressed as Elvis. The impression was completely tongue in cheek, and the whole thing only got more surreal from there. Partway through the set, the Elvis outfit came off and he announced that he had a confession: he wasn’t really Elvis. He was the guy from The Verve. The wig stayed on for a little longer before that came off too, prompting one final confession. He wasn’t the guy from The Verve either. He was Irk’s singer. It was ridiculous, very funny and somehow made perfect sense in the middle of their set.

Beneath the joke was a seriously good band. Irk’s noise rock and math rock sounded heavy and unpredictable, and their vocalist was charismatic enough to hold your attention whether he was singing, playing up to the crowd or simply standing there in that wig. It was a strange experience in the best possible way: funny, chaotic and musically sharp.

Having been at ArcTanGent this year, I found myself thinking about it throughout the afternoon. Not because Dubrek was trying to recreate a festival, but because Outtamind had put together the sort of bill that rewards a taste for heavy music that gets a bit weird. Each band sounded different, yet they belonged in the same room. Rats! Rats! Rats! brought the raw punk energy, Pohl took us somewhere more hypnotic, and Irk made sure nobody left with an entirely normal account of their Saturday afternoon.

It was a cracking matinee, and the crowd showed that Derby is more than happy to turn up for the strange stuff, even when it starts just after lunch.

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