First off, apologies I’m late with this piece, been busy with gigs and work, so I waltzed up to The Night Owl, a cheeky little venue, on Lower Trinity Street, known for its vast array of haunts, in the heart of Digbeth.
My mission was to catch Matty Awbery, who has featured on the website before, but we have never met. He arrives with his new band Airtight, but first up I get to see Allan from Stourbridge, aka, Secondary Education. One man and his guitar, although he is a drummer by trade, he brings our dystopian landscape to life in his own style, with songs written under a brutal lockdown sky. Songs about ‘dickheads turning pubs into flats’ and ‘going insane’ these are tunes to mirror our sullen and sorrowful existence. We get a thank you because ‘no-one comes out on a Monday night’ and we get another ditty about getting high in Wilkinson’s.
What we learnt in short and sweet set was that it is time to fuck anyone and anything that makes you miserable. He has a wacky and wonderful take on life, putting pen to paper for anything that irks him and gets under his skin.
Puppies and weed anyone?
Next up, those rowdy rapscallions, Airtight, their first time in Birmingham, and I find them chatting happily to the sparse but attentive crowd. Singer Aaron Ross bounds across the small stage, his moves are fluid, and energetic, and he reminds me of the time I saw Guilt Trip, their singer Jay Valentine, making them kindred spirits in swag. They are part emo, part shoegaze and bringing up the rear are some cutthroat riffs and choruses, that will have you stopping dead in your tracks. Their abrasive quality will seal off the perimeter and have you running for a drink, dehydrated and incapacitated.
Matty Awbrey is the guitarist here, he is also a talented singer/songwriter that is known for his thoughtful and sensitive approach to his surroundings. He is able to extract the core elements of a situation and use them to construct a musical adventure that we can all relate to. The band play on, in their punky, grungy, fashion, it’s good to see the genre develop with new Indie alternative acts. We are treated to ‘Nice Boy’ and ‘Leech’ and the new song ‘Flowers’ as they make it look so easy, it’s all in days work for these young lads.
They finish the set with their first single ‘Habit’ and it gets the crowd pulsating and pumping,
all cute and cosy for a cold night.
‘and when we’re spiralling, keep a hold of me, as we won’t witness the ending that’s so clear’
With the untamed romanticism these words bring, I will leave you, but remember it’ll be Airtight on the night.
Azra Pathan
Airtight – The Night Owl, Birmingham- 25th November 2024