Revolver @ Billy Bootlegger's

As Revolver frontman Mat Flint mentioned in my interview with him, any understanding of shoegaze as a genre needs to be prefaced by an understanding that the genre name itself began as a pejorative, designed to dissuade the music-buying and gig-going public of the early 1990s from investing in the bands assigned the label. The stereotype was that such bands - Revolver themselves, Ride, Slowdive and Chapterhouse, to name a few - gazed exclusively at their shoes whilst performing, burying their noses in guitar pedals rather than striving for an emotional connection with the audience. Though the term itself has been adopted as a neutral or even positive descriptor as of 2025, that same implication of emotionality buried under a wall of fuzz has remained. Such a wall was not present on the 12th of September at Billy Bootlegger’s, as Revolver, Stereopium and Suns of Rest each sought a direct connection to the audience through their performances within the genre. Each of these bands is interested in exploring slightly different sound dynamics: Suns of Rest are a little heavier and more confrontational in their sound; Stereopium craft epic soundscapes with an icy quality; and Revolver, of course, specialised in the jangly, hazy, often romantic swirling hazes of guitar fuzz on which the genre was first built. However, a unifying theme between the three is a willingness to perform, entertain and experiment as they play live in Nottingham.

Between bands, DJ sets are performed by DJ Casually Dan and members of Nottingham local favourites Bored Marsh. These sets feature hits by recent post-punk stars and 6 Music favourites such as Shame and Do Nothing, interspersed with their direct antecedents: the likes of New Order and The Cure, for instance, make appearances on the playlist. This lends itself to creating the atmosphere that is sustained throughout the night: it’s a celebration of the past, present and future of independent music and culture, where the two often collide and the inevitable blurring of genre lines is celebrated.

A Coventry based shoegaze band, Suns of Rest, were the first support, stepping in on relatively short notice from the Nottingham band Pound Land who were initially due to perform. The vocalist’s stage presence will remain a defining memory of the night for me: there’s an intense sense of stress and anxiety in his performance style as he half-shouts through a wailing wall of reverberating guitars, intermittently hitting a tambourine against the palm of his hand (and, occasionally, his head) with incandescent conviction that will leave a bruise. The music itself is driven by a mechanical drumming style from a particularly adept rhythm section which stands out against a genre often driven by a level of indecipherability between instruments. Their new single, Naked Soul, is embedded with a sense of anarchic angst found in grunge and punk, combined with a sense of cinematic organisation, and live this is amplified tenfold, where the frenzied stage presence complements this sense that anything could happen within their music.

Their new single, Naked Soul, is embedded with a sense of anarchic angst found in grunge and punk, combined with a sense of cinematic organisation, and live this is amplified tenfold, where the frenzied stage presence complements this sense that anything could happen within their music.

Stereopium, the Nottingham-based second support act, craft a detailed web of noise themselves, often glacial and distant, sharing traces of DNA with gothic rock which are aided by the vocalist’s lower tones. There’s an undeniable sleekness to their performance, as they confidently blaze through tracks, often changing between tones and tempos gradually in ways which aren’t noticeable until an entirely new song has started. Their place as something of a local supergroup, comprised of members of other Nottingham bands, also comes through in the sense of friendliness between them and the crowd: before one track, it is proclaimed that “This is a song about somebody who hates me,” at which point a man stood near me with a mohawk jokes that he wonders who it is, receiving a knowing laugh from several people onstage and off. This band is evidently a result of a thriving musical culture in a comparatively small city, as after only a few performances, there’s a sense that people want to dance and are coming to recognise the songs. The band are also, seemingly, comfortable with asking to restart a song when the initial way of playing it does not quite go according to plan, understanding that a crowd here is still a space to experiment without judgement. Their sound is evidently still developing, as whilst the swirling tones and strong sense of rhythm are hypnotic, keeping an audience captivated through their short set, a possible room for improvement is differentiating themselves a little further: there’s a sense throughout the set that although they’re gearing up to be great through fantastic musicianship, sharper songwriting will truly solidify them through giving them a truly unique identity in an often crowded genre. 

For Revolver, this is their first Nottingham gig in over 30 years. One of the first bands to receive the initial shoegaze label, they have returned in the past few years from a long hiatus, now with a new lineup. From the moment they take to the stage, Mat Flint in particular truly seems to enjoy himself, jumping and dancing around the stage as he strums his guitar and recites tracks from Revolver’s two albums, both released in the early 1990s, with absolute confidence and passion as though he’d written the songs yesterday. Though he has played in other successful bands in the years since Revolver’s initial run, most notably Death in Vegas, the relief and excitement about revisiting these older tracks is palpable from his face and demeanour, smiling frequently throughout. Stereopium's bass player, Rich also puts in a double shift, reappearing to perform with Revolver, and provides a fantastic rhythmic support on both occasions. Their set began with Crimson, from their debut album Baby’s Angry, and an unmistakable hum of the song’s central melody could be heard within the crowd, proving that this is a band whose audience is truly happy to see them back, remembering their earlier shows and music fondly.

When given space to breathe in a live setting, [Heaven Sent an Angel]’s cocktail of harmonic guitar pedals becomes something new entirely, a wall of texture which could easily soundtrack the cinema-cliché first moments of falling in love.

Many great songs are played throughout their set: the noisier Molasses, which plays with reverb, changing tempos, and static in ways characteristic of late 1980s alternative rock; and Drowning Inside, which is a little folk and country-tinged with its loose strumming method. They also often draw out these tracks, finishing on a drawn out drum or guitar line which phases itself out naturally and beautifully. The rendition of Wave is also stunning, with the committed, confident guitar and drum playing almost mimicking a heartbeat that echoes throughout the crowd. The standouts, however, are easily the triumphant performances of Heaven Sent an Angel and Venice, towards the end of the show. The former, dedicated at the show to Flint’s wife, is appropriately almost heavenly sounding. When given space to breathe in a live setting, the track’s cocktail of harmonic guitar pedals becomes something new entirely, a wall of texture which could easily soundtrack the cinema-cliché first moments of falling in love. It’s a beautiful, heartfelt track which receives a warm reception from the crowd, many of whom mouth the lyrics. Venice afterwards complements this extremely well, building a stunning wall of noise which grows throughout the track, ending on a complete breakdown of distortion, all performed and taken in with a sense of genuine joy. 

Overall, this night was a very good distillation of the threads of music history that are carried through time: as three extremely skilled bands played with genre conventions and wove them in and out of one another, with each bringing a unique and interesting take to similar realms of hazy alternative rock. There was a distinct atmosphere of joviality and celebration at the gig too, indicative of the communal and friendly atmosphere that has been formed within Nottingham’s music scene, and I left with a positively distracting ringing in my ears and a smile on my face.

Special thanks to Jordan Dowling and Dom Gourlay AKA Some Velvet Evening, who were celebrating 20 years of putting gigs on together with this one.

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Liz Clarke

Photographs from the concert courtesy of Elliot Cook

Edited by Liz Clarke