Mama Oh No, I got yer blooze

 Mama Oh No, Yer Blooze and Decent Wrestlers, Norwich 23 Jan 2026

I arrived at Voodoo Daddy’s in good time for the Mama Oh No set, while thankfully managing to catch Yer Blooze’s from the middle of their opening number.  

 

Having missed the opening act, Decent Wrestlers, I heard from others that their debut gig went well.  I can report that a couple on my bus home were chatting enthusiastically about the Decent Wrestlers’ set.  With the encouragement of the Norwich scene, I hope that they keep working at their music, as their set went down well with the early evening Voodoo people.

Yer Blooze play it wide at Voodoo Daddy's Showroom  

 

Yer Blooze is the stage name of multi-instrumentalist Dylan Clarke, who frequently performs solo sets in small venues around the city.  However, Yer Blooze also performs as a band featuring Harry Fisher on viola,Rueben Claybourn on guitar, Matthew Walker on keys, a rhythm section of Acer Smith on bass with Connor Bryant playing drums.  On Friday it was the band, which was a real treat.  The music is a little bit folky, a little bit rocky, a little bit quirk and roll. I really enjoyed the mix of instruments and it was good to hear a drummer playing the drums, rather than bashing the living daylights out of the skins.  The low-fi groove of Yer Blooze got a positive response from the growing crowd.  I really enjoyed the numbers, particularly the lengthier closing number, the poignant, moving, A Round Piercing A Kid’s Face.  This is the sort of serious music the planet needs to hear.  Protest music does not have to be shouty, clichéd chanting.  Will Yer Blooze continue down this vein?  The pertinence of A Round A Kid’s Face deserves to be very widely heard and shared.

yer blooze is / are definitely an act I want to hear more from and I gave myself a stern telling-off for not getting to the venue on time.  By way of penance, I bought a copy of the Yer Blooze CD, yb tracks 1 which, after seeing the live set, unsurprisingly, turns out to be a quite brilliant home-produced effort by Clarke.  Seven of the nine tracks are original compositions which are supplemented by a couple of fascinating covers.  From the first brief track, Where My Veins Start and Spread ’24 to the last number, Greyscale Blues you will experience something quite special.  The penultimate track, Where My Veins Start and Spread ’22 substantially extends the opening piece, taking the concept into a haunting, electronic blend of instrumentation and effects.  You even get a blues-based acoustic closing song, to remind you Yer Blooze has traditional roots.

 

The two cover songs are poetically linked, Lennon & McCartney’s She’s Leaving Home and the Radiohead advice on How To Disappear Completely.  The CD release is a wholly home-produced effort, which is an amazing testament to what can be achieved home alone.  Being crafted in the kitchen, so to speak, means that there is potentially as many copies available as Clarke can find the time to cook up.  This was the best £6 I have spent on music for quite some time.  Do direct message the artist in person on Instagram @yerblooze to get a first edition copy.

 

Getting back to the Friday night show, it is fair to say that yer blooze managed to entertain the crowd and stimulate the brain cells, with their light-touch rock.  The recipe of keys, guitars, viola and harmonies worked very well.

 

Voodoo Daddy Showroom is a venue where the chilled appearance of the management belies the fact that band changeovers are efficient and acts take to the stage on time.  There is no hanging about between sets, but there is enough time to say "hi" to familiar faces and order a drink.  It is a well-run operation and friendly with it.

 

Without much ado the even more chilled Mama Oh No family combo plugged in, tuned up and following a brief band hug, were ready to play.  They had an audience who three-quarter filled the room and who were really into the band.  The band fed off the Friday night buzz and began their set in relaxed and rocky fashion, generating a positive feelgood feedback loop with the happy throng.  The sound was good and bar a hiccough with the lighting, which required a re-boot, the show proceeded at a snappy pace.

Jack has a strong voice which he delivers at the high end of the register with a range well-suited to rock.  The man let it off the leash for the crowd during the second song, Suck On Limes (a single from 2025) and proceeded to hold the limelight with guitar and vocals from then on.  Tordy Gascoigne (on keyboards) and Issy Gascoigne (bass), with their brother Jack, tower over the audience.  Their parents must be very proud of what fine, tall specimens they have produced, Mama particularly so.

 

The band are a powerful collective force.  Tordy’s keyboards are punchy and are delivered with a sharpness that punctuates every song beautifully.  It is good to hear songs where the keyboards offer much, much more than atmospheric tones.  Behind the keyboards and Jack’s guitar, (which he can get to sound like he is a 21^stCentury Duane Eddy), the rhythms are deftly provided by Issy and Rhi Swift.  These two keep things steady with style.

Jack Gascoigne: Mama's boy

Mama Oh No are not a demonstrative band, they let the music do the entertaining.  The songs come in fits and starts.  They are all strong songs, all of a piece with each other stylistically, yet somehow the setlist seems a bit of a mash up.  The band are strongly focused on what instruments they are playing, although not out of touch with the audience, their concentration on getting the sounds right leaves them a little detached from the mood of the audience.  The new single ‘I Will Stop At Nothing’ from the forthcoming second album, goes down very well, as does ‘Silky Waves’, but it is a sudden jump in tempo from the former, which wrongfoots the dancers in the crowd.  Throughout the set, just as a mood is built by one number, it is followed by another which clashes with the previous mood.  This jumping from song to song, quick tempo to slow tempo, makes it a challenge to build any momentum within the audience.  A couple of instrumental numbers that invite bopping around end too soon and several tunes end abruptly, which catches out the crowd too. 

A rare view of Mama Oh No from above 

I wonder whether the band can adapt from songs they have clearly refined so well in the studio, to play with a bit more freedom on stage, maybe by playing a medley, or extending the dancey tracks to give the audience another spin round the floor.  Mama Oh No are a very good band, their first LP is well-produced, consistent in its sound and stands repeated listening. They have some super songs that can get a crowd moving, but I think there is quite a bit of work to do to turn their collected works into a coherent live set.  They have more than enough original material to be able to blend a powerful show together if they think more about the overall impact of a set list, rather than simply order in  which they deliver their superb songs.  I think this is the next step for the band, because there is no doubt that individually their compositions all have legs of their own.  Now is the time to get those legs kicking in a chorus line. 

 

Mama Oh No have plenty of time to work on this before they play the following shows: 

16^th May, 2026: Daydream Psychedelic Saturday, The Northern Powerhouse, Birkenhead

 

26^th – 28^th May, 2026:  Red Rooster Festival, Euston Hall Estate, Thetford

 

Regardless of my thoughts on the set list, the Friday night Voodoo’s crowd loved Mama Oh No.  They are an extremely lovable bunch.

Spencer Ide

27th January 2026