Utterly Fuzzled All Dayer – Fulfordgate Club, York – live review
We need community more than ever and in return grassroots music needs our support. Hitting both those marks the first all dayer from Utterly Fuzzled in York was an absolute gem – indie, psyche, punk and wholesome unity.
Line up: Crumbs, Irked, Slime City, Knitting Circle, Soma Crew, Fat Spatula, Milky Wimpshake (solo)
Venue: Fulfordgate Club, York
Date: 10 May 2025
The warm chime of a gong resonates through Fulfordgate Club to signal to the assembled that the next set is about to start. It draws them in from the glorious sunshine outside, from their conversations, from the orderly queue at the bar. Vibrations bringing us together in the most delightful, wholesome way.
Which could sort of be the whole review of this first, brilliant, all dayer under the Utterly Fuzzled banner. Expertly and lovingly curated the event not only makes use of a hidden gem of a venue but gives us a varied yet well matched selection of bands. As if that wouldn’t be wonderful enough, it also reminds us that joy is a form of protest and solidarity is more vital than ever in these trying times.
Opening with a solo set from Milky Wimpshake York locals Fat Spatula were the first full band of the day. Pure indie rock goodness, with Transatlantic-style slacker rock detours, they’re the first (but not last) on the line-up to draw us revellers on to the dance floor.
They’re followed by another local band, Soma Crew. They lean heavy on the psychedelic aspects of alternative rock to give us circling riffs, and echoing refrains, in a set which is warm and languorous.The bar has been set high by this opening trio of artists, but (spoilers sweetie) the rest of the line up more than meet the challenge.
Knitting Circle might be my favourite band of the moment. So good they keep drawing me out of retirement from music writing (first with their Deciduous Climbers EP then with more recent single Safe Routes) and having gone along to the all dayer with no intention of doing anything other than enjoying, here I am once more, writing about them.
They excite me all over again today. Live they play as tightly as they do on record, with just as much urgency and conviction. They do not shy away from or soften their stance on social and political issues, making statements which shouldn’t be needed nevermind controversial and finding a way to be both direct and intellectual often within the same lyric. Their sound can be angular, hypnotic (in a subtly repeating refrains rather than full on psychedelia way), and incredibly full with vocal interplay and masterful pace and volume changes.
They give us much of that debut EP with Gladioli Tidings, They’re Telling Lies, and the absolute anthem of menopause Losing My Eggs all getting a run out. That latest single Safe Routes also gets an airing. I hope one day this track is a quaint reminder of something we had to fight for but ultimately won, today it is a poignant but vital call to arms. As we said before: “Safe Routes is an invocation: if empathy is a weakness then let me be made frail under the weight of compassion, but let me not be wearied fighting for safety, liberation, and peace for all.”
We also get Joy Intangible and a brand new song in Crows. It sounds effortless and was instantly gripping this afternoon, sowing a seed of excitement for where this band may go while simultaneously making me want to join a band myself.
Next up is Glasgow’s Slime City, a band I’ve loved for a long while but had failed until now to see live. They did not disappoint – but given they play a shoe, use samples and banter to make this a performance not just a set, and are all thriller no filler there was never really a doubt they would be anything but all out amazing.
With a definite Man Or Astro-Man? vibe much here is breakneck paced and genre-curious. There’s plenty of surf-rock underpinning but with generous servings of disco, pop, synth, angular math rock and more. It’s a lot for sure, but it works. The set draws heavily on the 2023 debut Death Club with outings for gatekeeping takedown NASA T-Shirt, pop anthem You And Everybody That You Love Will One Day Die, ode to the salad days of internet-in-the-post Dial-Up Internet Is The Purest Internet.
The congruous line throughout is the acutely observed state of everything delivered in sassy comedic lyrics lifting and dropping you on pulse-racing rollercoasters of melody and rhythm. Come for the shoe, but stay for the charm, social commentary and blistering pop-punk anthems. Hugely looking forward to their second album, which sounds as if it’s not too far off being completed.
It’s all out punk next – in sound and attitude – from Irked. With frontwoman Helen Walkinshaw striding out into the audience, defiant challenge more than simmering confrontation as she paces inside the semi-circle of the informal front-row then weaves between them before following a snaking mic cable back to the stage. Visceral, furiously fast, and delivering that straight-up punk affront to the senses and to society.
The day is closed with a cuddlier but no less immediate set from Crumbs. As well as instantly reminding me how much I miss Indietracks, Crumbs give us an enthralling blend of indiepop and post-punk. Making brilliant use of light and space in their melodies there is rhythmic agitation in their sound which gets the crowd is dancing again while their lyrics set the mind a-whirr.
The line-up Utterly Fuzzled curated was one of variety, each band different from those around it, and yet fitting together cohesively. Nobody likes it when a review is overly gushing so I hesitate to effuse too strongly but really, I’m struggling to find another fair or accurate way to describe the day other than as perfection.
This is the community, this is the sound, this is the place, this is the support for each other we need. This is the sort of day that makes you fall in love with music, makes tangible a DIY scene which is truly inclusive and welcoming, and leaves your heart full for a long time after.
Roll on more like this from Utterly Fuzzled later in the year.
~
The next show from Utterly Fuzzled is Nev Clay at Fulfordgate Club on 5 July – tickets and info here.
Find the artists on Bandcamp (and from there in other places too we expect):
Find Utterly Fuzzled on Instagram.
Images: Pete Darrington (and also credit for the Man Or Astro-Man? citation)
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Sarah Lay
A long-standing music journalist she's also co-founder of independent record label Reckless Yes, an author of novels, and when not messing around with words and music, a digital strategist.
Latest posts by Sarah Lay (see all)
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- Utterly Fuzzled All Dayer – Fulfordgate Club, York – live review - 13th May 2025
- Knitting Circle – Safe Routes (self released) - 10th March 2025
