Black Hats + M3G @ The Tuppenny, Old Town, Swindon 12th December 2024

Man, I’ve missed Black Hats, a band responsible for many of my favourite local gigs over the years, and I missed them at their first post-reformation Swindon visit at The Shuffle. So catching one of my favourite bands playing one of my favourite watering holes as one of the last gigs on my sonic to-do list was, as the kids say, a no-brainer.

Sadly, I missed most of M3G’s set because I was catching up with a couple of guys from Belarus—the band, not the country—plus an Oxford ex-pat promotor, all of whose musical escapades are woven through the Black Hats story to some degree. What I did catch showed her to be a purveyor of indie-folk-infused, singer-songwriter style, acoustic pop forged of emotive tunes and soaring harmonies. I made a mental note to be less tardy next time.

So, having built up Black Hats in the introduction, I guess I should justify such praise. For me, the attraction is simple. Black Hats have the tunes. You know, when you watch an act, and I watch many, you may enjoy them, maybe even buy a CD, but the real test is this – do you remember any of their songs, hooks, words or melodies by the time you get home? The answer to that is often, err, no, not really. Well, here we have a band where you can answer in the affirmative.

All good bands are difficult to pin down, but this is essentially indie music, albeit balancing rock weight and pop contagion, with no slight whiff of punk attitude. It might not sound that original, but as always, it ain’t what you do…well, you know the rest. And, as I say, Black Hats have the tunes.

Whether you go home whistling the riff to “Kick in the Doors” or singing its brilliant lyrical earworms. Find yourself cocooned in the jangling power-pop of “Button Down Shirt” or bathed in the urgent sonics of “We Write Things Down.” Or perhaps with the spacious echo of the “Bad News Telephone” or the understated two-tone vibes of “No More Smoke” ringing in your ears. Or maybe still reeling from the unexpected shock of encountering their brilliant rendition of King’s “Love and Pride”, it is safe to say that Black Hats have the tunes.

But of course, a live performance is much more than just a collection of songs; great as they may be, it’s a show. Black Hats are one of those bands which, even if you know little about playing an instrument, are mesmerising to watch. Whether you get hooked on Ian Budd’s mellifluous and often reggae-infused bass lines, Mark Franklin’s precision and understated drumming, or frontman Nick Breakspear’s poised yet punkish salvos, they are a mesmerising band—the perfect balance of muscle and melody, power and poignancy, groove and grandeur.

It is also worth noting that any band that can take what would typically be a big, wide-screen sonic affair and deliver the same show in the compact and bijou confines of a venue like The Tuppenny without resorting to acoustic guitars and cajons, as is the norm, is a band completely in control of the sound that they make. Their volume control is simply their ability to fully understand how to play their instruments.

F. Scott Fitzgerald famously said there was no second act in American life. That may be the case, but Black Hats prove that there can clearly be not only a second act for grassroots bands but a flippin’ great one. After all, surely the second part of any story is where things get really exciting!

All together now…” on and off, on and off, on and oh-off, running outta trouble, were running outta ti-time, we are kicking in the doors to-ni-right…”

Boy, do they have the tunes!