If I have learnt anything this week, it is that if Katy Perry can go into space, then so can I. And that is exactly what I did on a fresh spring evening in Liverpool City Centre.
HENGE, a band that calls their music ‘cosmic dross’, landed at The Arts Club, ready to take an audience of all ages on an intergalactic journey to the planet Voltus B. But before take-off, Paddy Steer warmed up the crowd with an impressive set of drums and beats.
Apparently there to fund a replacement washing machine, Steer’s experimental electronic set was just a hint at what was to come and the audience loved it. Then Nom on drums, Gork on synthesizers, Goo on bass and Zpor on vocals and guitar come out to inform us we have actually entered their spaceship and we are about to blast off.
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Describing HENGE to the uninitiated is hard; with influences from reggae to rock opera and a Nintendo 64 thrown in for luck, they sound like a cross between Devo and early Prodigy, playing demented children’s TV show theme tunes from the 1980s.
We immediately dive into a psychedelic acid-house trip with some heavy bass. The crowd jumping, swaying and dancing as we climb higher on our cosmic voyage.
HENGE – a cosmic rock band who took a Liverpool audience to outer space and back -Credit:HENGE
This is basically a space rave, and Zpor captains the journey. He really knows how to work the crowd, he is a born space leader, you might say. At one point, he asks if we are all human, some say no and say they are ‘Scouse’, which he dutifully takes note of.
Highlights include songs like Ascending and Get A Wriggle On is spectacular. And Exo has the whole room jumping to the synthesized beats, at one point it felt like we might literally take off.
Everyone should experience this wild ride with HENGE at least once, and I recommend you go in blind and just see for yourself. Zpor did say we would go through a wormhole back to Earth as we exited, but I am not sure. In fact, I am not sure I will be the same again.
HENGE is continuing its tour of the UK, and you can see the full listings here.