Skinny Lister
The Mash House, Edinburgh

A SEASONED folkpunk band like Skinny Lister take to the stage with swagger and belligerence and launch straight into the nuclear panic of 38 Minutes (“This is not a drill”), their high-octane opener in a relentless and double-bass-swingingly great set of in-your-face energy, tough couplets and attitude.

If you dont know the lyrics it can all seem a bit like being hit by a folk-bus in the fast lane but this is more than compensated for by extraordinary rapport they quickly build with the crowd. They are like the Pogues at double speed, the perfect London pub band you’d meet in heaven.

Never before have I witnessed requests shouted out and immediately taken up by frontman “sex-on-a-stick” Dan Heptinsall — if just for a verse and chorus — and thrashed off his acoustic with obvious relish and panache. 

Requests are stock in trade for their setlist and, if you’ve got one, they clearly harvest them pre-gig: one highlight was when the noise was suddenly interrupted by a suggested song that clearly surprised the band, Lorna Thomas’s exquisite rendition of Bonny Away. This was as much of an ice-breaker as Arm Wresting In Dresden, for which she threw herself into the crowd for impromptu bouts with balding punters.

Nor have I seen a spontaneous soundcheck conducted with such professional aplomb as after This is War, the big singalong towards which they had been building when it was sabotaged by a sudden invasion of feedback: they wear the mechanics of their music on their sleeve, and perfection is less interesting than impetus. 

Skinny Lister specialise in music tailored to a rowdy semi-liquored crowd and they have a deep repertoire of songs whose chorus you’ve already learned by the second time around, whether the Whoa-oh of John Kanacka, the ba ba ba of Trouble In Oxford Street or the “Damn curse” of Amsterdam, as though the real instrument they play is the room.

This builds steadily through the set and when we reach the closer, Down On The Barrier, they stop entirely and let the audience carry the whole song alone, an ambitiously melodic line that everyone has miraculously mastered. Our faith in them is brilliantly repayed by their faith in us.

Top class, and the best white vest plus high-fade/double-bass combo you’re ever likely to witness.

On tour in Britain until December 13. For more information see: skinnylister.com.