Midlands Emo Takes Over FIREBUG Leicester with Pillow Fort, Porcelain Girl and Dissociates 

Leicester got a healthy dose of Midlands emo on 16 August as Just Fozzie Promotions brought Dissociates, Porcelain Girl and Pillow Fort together for a night of loud guitars, emotional vocals and plenty of twinkly riffs at FIREBUG.

With two Derby bands and a Nottingham headliner on the bill, it was also a good excuse for TREИDNG to get out of Derby for a change and see what was happening a little further down the road.

FIREBUG made a strong first impression. Downstairs is a proper city centre pub, while upstairs opens out into a surprisingly sizeable live music venue with a great stage and, most importantly, an absolutely massive sound. It was loud, very loud, but everything still came through clearly, making it an ideal setting for a line-up built around emo, grunge, pop-punk and plenty of distortion.

Dissociates

Opening the evening were Derby’s Dissociates, a band we’ve now caught a few times around the local scene. Every time we see them they seem to become that little bit tighter and more polished, without losing the rough edges that make their music work.

Their sound sits firmly at the heavier, grungier end of the evening, with big distorted guitars and a rawness that feels like it could fall apart at any moment, but never actually does. That’s increasingly becoming part of their charm. They’re getting tighter as a band while retaining that slightly sloppy, dirty grunge sound that suits them perfectly.

Their cover of Silverchair’s “Freak” remains an easy way to win us over too. It’s a song that fits naturally alongside their own material and plays perfectly into the band’s love of loud, heavy 90s-inspired grunge.

It was also great to see Dissociates performing outside Derby. Grassroots bands need opportunities to move beyond their home towns, play to unfamiliar audiences and gradually build followings elsewhere. Seeing a Derby band opening a show in Leicester and sounding increasingly comfortable doing it can only be a positive thing.

Porcelain Girl

Next up were another familiar Derby band, Porcelain Girl, opening their set with the brilliantly titled “Singing Modern Baseball on Bonfire Night” before launching into a set that showcased their distinctive blend of Midwest emo, pop-punk and heavier alternative music.

Porcelain Girl are becoming remarkably consistent live. Heavy guitars are mixed with intricate, twinkly lead parts, backed by thumping bass and powerful drums. Vocally, things can switch from soulful, melodic singing into guttural screams in seconds, giving the band a much heavier edge than you might expect from the Midwest emo label alone.

It’s a combination that works particularly well live. There’s enough melody to make the songs immediately memorable, but when the heavier sections arrive they properly hit. There’s an anthemic quality running through their music too, with emotional vocals and huge instrumental sections making even the more intricate moments feel built for a live crowd.

The Leicester audience also got to hear some new material alongside the usual set of bangers, offering a glimpse at where Porcelain Girl might be heading next. The newer songs fitted comfortably alongside the established material while continuing to develop the sound the band have been carving out for themselves.

Another bang-on performance from the Derby four-piece. Emotional, heavy and melodic in equal measure, with almost every song feeling like an anthem.

Pillow Fort

Headlining the night were Nottingham’s Pillow Fort, and despite them being relatively close to TREИDNG’s Derby home, this was actually our first time seeing them live.

They didn’t disappoint.

Pillow Fort delivered fast-paced, melodic emo with plenty of pop-punk energy underneath it. Their songs were loud but beautifully sung, with fantastic vocal harmonies adding another layer to the melodies.

Once again, there was plenty of intricate, twinkly guitar work, with little fills, leads and solos woven throughout the songs. Underneath it all were punchy pop-punk drums and a heavy, pumping bass sound that gave the prettier guitar sections some real weight.

Some tracks leaned further towards emo while others had a much more obvious pop-punk feel, but the whole set flowed together extremely well. There’s an emotional quality to Pillow Fort’s music without it becoming overly sombre, and enough pace and energy to keep everything moving.

The band also played material from their new album, giving the Leicester crowd a chance to hear some of the newer songs live. With the record now out there to listen to, the FIREBUG set was a great introduction to a band we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on.

For a first experience of Pillow Fort, they left a very good impression and they’re absolutely a band we’d recommend catching live.

A Great Night for Midlands Grassroots Emo

More than anything, the night was another reminder of why it’s worth travelling beyond your own local scene.

Derby, Nottingham and Leicester are close enough that there should be plenty of crossover between their grassroots music communities, and nights like this are exactly how that happens. Bands get in front of new audiences, promoters build connections between cities and gig-goers discover artists they might otherwise never come across.

For Dissociates and Porcelain Girl, it was great to see two Derby bands taking their music outside the city and onto another grassroots stage. Both continue to improve every time we catch them, while still retaining the characteristics that made them interesting in the first place.

Pillow Fort, meanwhile, gave us another Nottingham band to keep an eye on and provided a brilliantly melodic, energetic end to the evening.

Just Fozzie Promotions put together three bands that complemented each other without sounding the same, taking the night from the raw grunge of Dissociates through the heavier Midwest emo of Porcelain Girl and finishing with the melodic emo and pop-punk of Pillow Fort.

Our first trip to FIREBUG certainly won’t be our last either. A cracking upstairs venue, excellent sound and exactly the sort of grassroots space that bands across the Midlands need.

Three bands, three Midlands cities represented and a very loud night of emo in Leicester. We’ll take that.

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