The Brudenell Social Club is heaving. This tiny venue on the outskirts of Leeds City Centre might not be the most glamorous live music spot around but what it lacks in pomp it more than makes up for in character. Cram it full of excitable pop-punk fans and it also becomes a venue that trades in creating a musical-moments. You know the type – they’re the ones you find yourself recalling at house parties and during pint-charged pub chats years after the fact, assuring everyone they’re unlikely to experience anything similar, anytime soon. That feeling certainly lingers in the Brudenell tonight – and as LA ska-rockers Just Friends spill onto the venue’s tiny stage, its likelihood only increases.
They’re not the reason we’re here tonight though – California quartet Mom Jeans. are the main draw. As one of the notable newcomers of the recent bedroom pop-punk resurgence that brought us bands like Modern Baseball, The Front Bottoms and Tiny Moving Parts, the band have developed a fast following, chasing up 2018’s sophomore release Puppy Love with this brief UK trek. The absence of a Manchester date may signal the handmade nature of the tour – curated by a group who are perhaps a little new to booking international shows – but it’s worked in their favour. Their lack of Northern dates seems to have encouraged a chunk of Manchester fans to make the trip across the Moors (ourselves included) and by the time Just Friends wrap their frantic support slot, many have spilled over onto the stage.
Familiar hits from Mom Jeans.’ low-fi 2016 debut Best Buds welcomes the band on stage, with the gentle jangle of album opener “Death Cup” luring us in before ultimately giving way to a crash of noise and second album track “Danger Can’t”. From there, it’s over to the bands’ latest release for an airing of new cuts, all of which are welcomed with open arms. While Just Friends dealt in energy, Mom Jeans.’ follow up with a dose of charged sentimentality, effortlessly flitting between raw emotion and cramped crowd sing-alongs. Party track “Edward 40Hands” does its job (minus the Bobs’ Burgers intro) before a feel-filled performance of “Scott Pilgrim Vs My Gpa” sets tears flowing from certain impressionable members of the crowd that’ll no doubt hold this experience dear throughout their own musical journeys. By ticking these two boxes – and selling out a show so far from their LA home – it’s a safe bet that Mom Jeans.’ next visit won’t be so intimate.
Words by Simon Bland. (@SiTweetsToo)
