Harsh / MOSKITO - Bannerman’s, Edinburgh 6th February 2025

But first for something completely different. MOSKITO describe themselves as “a 5-piece shouty rock boy band” and that’s not a bad description. They are good looking young lads but with a rouigh edge and if they were an actual boy band they would have to be called ‘The Jackson Five Finger Death Punch’, ‘McFlies Undone’ or ‘Take That, Ya C*nt’. They’ve got a load of “Rage Against the Punky Monkeys” swagger and some fine tunes to back that up and blow the earwax out. The aggressive rocker ‘Shut The F*ck Up’ was delivered with attitude, a bit of gob and some rap and ravey interludes. With the singer Jake Rudd stripped down to a wife-beater vest, they look like they could have been the house band at The Jockey in Shameless. Jake did invite more of the crowd to step forward as “we don’t bite” but not everyone was feeling that brave. Needless to say, they turned out to be lovely lads off-stage after the show but theirs was a very passionate and convincing performance adhering to their adopted ethos of “defeat fake c*nts in music by being relentlessly courageously humanistically authentic”.

Jake revealed that he was almost crying before the gig, their first in Scotland, when he thought he had lost his voice, but happily, one of the locals prescribed Buckfast for him and that did the trick nicely. The band had a fine line in in-band banter. Ceiling-scraping guitarist Sam got some stick for ordering pineapple over hash browns and there is another Rudd in the band – Will on bass (presumably he’s better than Canadian cousin Paul Rudd when it comes to “slappa da bass”) and Australian Uncle Phil was not on hand to play the drums but Drew “Barry” Moore was. The band are from Boston, but it’s the one in Lincolnshire not the cooler Massachusets version where Ted lives. I assume I was the only person in the room who had actually visited Boston, but that was back in the 1980s to see the Boston Barracudas speedway team. Of course, none of these boys were even born then. I’ve definitely got more than a feeling that MOSKITO could do well though. They’ve got an EP out and top songs from that included ‘Clinomania’ (psychological desire or obsession to stay in bed). I’m glad I didn’t.

After a rendition of the serial killer song ‘Thrill Seeker’ they chucked in an outstanding cover of the vintage electro-house banger ‘Satisfaction’ by Benny Banassi & The Biz. If you don’t know the song, you might remember the video for the re-boot that featured models in scanty construction gear working power tools? The song definitely sounded a lot better with additional piss & vinegar in MOSKITO’s rocked-up version and that earned a great reception. There was a special guest on hand to round off the set. In the spirit of Brooce plucking Courtney Cox out of the crowd in the ‘Dancing in the Dark’ video, Jake handed a mic to Mike McDermott, formerly the singer in Semi Konshis, and together they belted out what might be the band’s best song so far; ‘Killing Joke’ which sounds a bit like Manson’s ‘The Beautiful People’ in a good way.

MOSKITO were playing Rockmantic in Carlisle the next day. I wouldn’t have put them down as the romantic types but they’re definitely more lairy than malaria and it might take a S.W.A.T. team to hold these guys back once they get more well-known. Check them out.

Now Harsh are definitely romantic. They are four charming and photogenic young chaps from Paris and they are all about the headbands, red leopard print, scarf round the microphone, spandex and boots look with gallic charm and sex appeal to die for and that certainly drew the girls to the front of the stage and it must have felt like Valentine’s Day had come early for some ladies of a certain age. Don’t be fooled by the name. They’re not that harsh and, while they do rock hard, fast and loose, they’re also smooth, sweet and fragrant like fine wine and finer perfume.

Harsh already have a fine selection of great 80s sounding songs from their 2022 album ‘Out of Control’ but they expect to record some new songs this year and some absolute belters got a preview airing here, including the riffy ‘Don’t Mess with Me’ and ‘When We’re Together’. In a modern world of sometimes identikit flat-pack Swedish AOR, it was a refreshing change to hear a French twist on the classic sound and they certainly deliver it with a bit of joie de vivre and panache.

Bass player Julien Martin was the first to get his top off and guitarist Severin Piozzoli grabbed the spotlight with fine some neo-classical widdling and a lead vocal on a cover of ‘Born to be Wild’, but drummer Leo Lowenthal might just have been the housewives’ favourite if it wasn’t for the good manners, cheeky smile and killer cheekbones of front-man Albert Arnold. Bannerman’s is located in the Cowgate at the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town, birthplace of Hibernian FC, and around these parts, the legendary footballer Franck Sauzee is known as ‘Le God’ but Albert should now be known as ‘Le Rock God’. He might have Cruella deVille’s hairstyle (no dalmatian puppies were harmed in this show) but he knows he’s got sex appeal and he gave generously on one of his off-stage walkabouts, offering generous pours from the biggest bottle of Jack Daniels I’ve ever seen and the Rockfiend team were seen lining up with mouths open for second helpings.

Clearly a well brought-up young lad, Albert announced a whole list of thank-yous and even found time to wish Nicola, the young lady who won Rockfiend’s ticket-giveaway competition, a happy birthday before introducing their cover of ‘Maniac’, dedicated, as always, to their favourite GILF Mrs Suzy Campbell, for obvious reasons. At the conclusion, Harsh invited MOSKITO back up on stage for a jam and I was genuinely scratching my head as to where they could find common ground in view of their diverse styles. If in doubt, crack out Marty Mcfly’s favourite ‘Johnny B. Goode’ and a good time was had by all.

This turned out to be a great double-bill of bands that you might not have expected to see together but top marks to Raz White for putting it together and it definitely worked. A splendid night’s entertainment, especially for £10. Harsh had been staying at Rockfiend HQ this week and swapped cuisine with their hosts Mr & Mrs Campbell, exchanging some snails for a parting gift of cans of Grants’ haggis which they might have to smuggle through customs in their prison pockets. If it doesn’t kill them, I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of Harsh in these parts and that’s definitely a good thing. Tres bien.