It’s 9 PM on a Friday in the bustling, sparkling interior of Hackney’s infamous MOTH Club. The venue is filled with sweat, mullets, and excitement as Melbourne garage-punk band Delivery takes the stage for their second performance in six months. The Covid-formed group wastes no time, diving straight into a high-energy set filled with sharp guitar riffs and an infectious chemistry that leaves many audience members beaming.
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The crowd is a clear reflection of the musical network the five-piece hails from, packed with fellow musicians and creatives involved in the DIY music scene. They’ve been warmed up by Manchester trio Fruit Tones, whose bassist C.J. Wood is later invited back on stage during Delivery’s headline set. He quickly jumps off into the crowd and surfs his way up to a steel pipe running along the venue's ceiling, clinging on briefly like a sloth before making a Tarzan-like descent back into the audience.
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“Long live MOTH Club!” exclaims vocalist/bassist Bec Allan into her microphone, showing solidarity with the grassroots venue that is under threat of closure due to nearby luxury apartment developments. She’s dressed in corduroy trousers and a loose blue shirt paired with a relaxed tie, possibly referencing the office job she held while writing lyrics for their latest album ‘Force Majeure’.
This album, released in January through Heavenly Recordings, home to acts like Kneecap, Lynks, and Pan Amsterdam, is a follow-up to their 2021 debut ‘Forever Giving Handshakes’ and offers a subversive, humorously unapologetic look at life's routines. Allan and her flatmate, guitarist, vocalist, and synth player James Lynch formed the group in 2020. The original lineup included Lisa Rashleigh (guitar, vocals) and Daniel Devlin (drums, vocals), both of whom departed to explore other paths after completing ‘Force Majeure’. Fortunately, lineup changes are common in Melbourne's DIY scene, and they were smoothly replaced by guitarist/vocalists Jordan Oakley and Scarlett Maloney, along with drummer Liam Kenny.
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The band sits down with CLASH just a few hours before the show. Having just finished their soundcheck, they flow into the venue’s bar one by one for a Red Stripe and a chat. Lynch is the first to arrive, followed closely by Allan. They are in high spirits, excited to be back in the English capital, albeit briefly. This marks the last of a sixteen-date tour across Europe, with only three days without gigs since the tour began on February 17th.
Tomorrow, they will rise early and head straight to New York, where they will make their American debut that evening before heading to Austin for a series of performances at SXSW. "I can’t even think about that right now," laughs Allan, shaking her head. "Literally tomorrow night we’re going to be in New York playing a show which is pretty surreal." Lynch agrees, noting, "We’re still in that mindset of ‘Wow! We’re in London playing a show!’ So the idea of performing in America for the first time tomorrow feels like a bridge we can only cross when we get to it." Nevertheless, he remains optimistic about the upcoming challenge, confidently stating, "We’re pretty good at going from zero to a hundred."
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Last September, MOTH Club’s owners reached out to local residents via social media, requesting support against a development that could significantly threaten the venue, which has operated since 1972. In November, it was disclosed that two more development proposals were submitted to Hackney council, further jeopardizing the venue’s future. "We heard about MOTH Club’s situation all the way from Australia, so the word has definitely spread. Hopefully, the campaign can mobilize people and make a huge difference. Venues like this are essential for keeping the scene alive," Lynch explains. "Melbourne faces the same issues, with venues closing every month or needing to start petitions or GoFundMe campaigns to stay afloat. Most grassroots venues worldwide are run out of passion, as they rarely generate significant profit. We’re incredibly grateful to those people."
Reinforcing this, Allan asks, "What would you do without grassroots venues? You’d never have a place to play your first show." She continues, "Sometimes you might only have ten or thirty people come to see you, so having locations that understand this is part of the process and still give you a chance is crucial for the music industry overall." Lynch agrees, adding, "You never really outgrow those venues, even if you move on to bigger spaces. There’s a venue in Melbourne called The Curtin that we’ve played several times, and we always think of it as our home ground."
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Jordan Oakley and Liam Kenny soon join the discussion, and they delve into the local scene in Melbourne. "The deeper you get into it, collaborating with bands and building
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It's 9 PM on a Friday inside the bustling, sparkly venue of Hackney's infamous MOTH Club. The space is filled with perspiration, mullets, and an atmosphere of anticipation, as