Adebisi Shank and the Enemies

Adebisi and Enemies are no strangers to sharing the stage, having most recently played on the same bill at the Workman’s Club for the Friends of Richter Collective night last month. This experimental combination works well; with emotive melodies fitting into blasts of high energy math-rock.
Enemies were up first and the wall of noise that emanates from this Wicklow four-piece is impressive. A predominantly instrumental group until now, Enemies have unexpectedly added some vocals to their new material and the result is something a whole lot catchier. Their next single ‘Indian Summer’, is instantly likeable and, they tell us, the video will involve “throwing around a lot of colourful religious powder”. Sounds interesting!
Then it’s time for the frenzied electronic brilliance of Adebisi Shank. As they break into ‘International Dreamboat’ it feels like jolts of energy to the veins! The trio know how to show their audience a good time and, as always, were fully turned on with furious energy that’s so contagious you just can’t stop moving. This led a fellow punter to joke “don’t they know we’ve got beers in our hands?”
The new material brings us more head banging, body thrusting brilliance! Like Enemies, they’ve added some distorted vocals. The overall sound is less frantic and more controlled but still as energetic as ever with their signature guitar solos, heavy bass lines and zany synths (think Super Mario Bros gone mad).
Sweaty and beer splattered, the crowd were completely on side from start-to-finish. As the band emerged back on-stage for their big finale, there were whoops and cheers and a voice from the back shouted “play number 3!”
They did exactly that, finishing off with the ear-splitting ‘Genki Shank’. My ears are still ringing.