The Love Triangle first revealed themselves to me when I picked up a cassette (one of four they initially distributed) at a Sceptres show. They share members with that band, as they do with the Shitty Limits. I listened to it and thought “pretty darn good”, then didn’t play it again, maybe because rewind/fast forward errors left me in the middle of blank-tape hell. I thought nothing more of them until a good friend came back from his travels raving about some great new band that turned out to be the very same Love Triangle. I listened again, and sure enough they were excellent. What’s more, they were being put on in Sheffield and Leeds on days I needed to celebrate.
Death Job started the show in Sheffield. Though not so familiar with the more hardcore end of the spectrum, I enjoy a band that looks like they aren’t going through the motions, and the power is usually entertaining. Guilty Parents follow. Something of an anomaly amongst the Nottingham bands they used to share stages with, they a) aren’t that hip, and b) haven’t moved to London. They play stripped down, riff-driven punk, though as much as I enjoy them, no songs stick in my head.
The Love Triangle are reminiscent of soulful early ‘60s beat groups like The High Numbers, but one channelled through a power pop band. Their warming up with some blues licks, and their tape containing a Yardbirds cover, reinforce this. They play with energy, a non-wankerish good-time swagger, and confidence comparable to the Railway Club footage (YouTube it!) of the aforementioned proto-Who. They look like they are having a blast!
They do great covers, like The Girls’ Chico’s Girl, and their frontman - who sings sans guitar in Shitty Limits - can really play. Some frontmen are confrontational, some intense, but this is just a yelping party charisma. It makes me want to dance.
The Love Triangle trump both The Sceptres and Shitty Limits. With the breakup of Twisted - who were supposed to have been going head-to-head with them at the Leeds gig - they might well be my favourite UK band right now.