Quick, Get La Securité!
La Securité / The Aide / Decent Wrestlers
Voodoo Daddy's Showroom, Norwich
27th June 2026
Music lovers of Norwich always appreciate it when a band makes the effort to travel to the Viking market place that was Norvic. La Securité came all the way from Montreal, Canada, which is a good effort and they were duly rewarded by a solid turnout at Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom on a Wednesday night. Those who turned up to catch the band were rewarded too, as the band produced an excellent performance, amply led by the theatrically coquettish Éliane Viens-Synnott. La Securité is a product of pandemic lockdowns and play what they describe as ‘dance-punk’ (or is it 'punk-dance?).
The Punk genre was always an attitude, not a sound. The angry Sex Pistols, the social commentary of The Clash, Pete Shelley’s love songs in Buzzcocks, the comedic Jilted John, the rather silly rapid-fire Ramones, the theatrical Talking Heads, even the quirky keyboard and guitars group from Swindon, XTC, were all part of punk’s first wave. Le Securité’s line up have the attitude and a look that places them at the fun end of the punk spectrum. The attitude comes from each of the musicians, being unable to play with their original bands due to pandemic restrictions, finding each other and starting up this new combo because music is their thing and they needed to play. It is fair to say that need has led La Securité to hit on something that is definitely worth hearing and seeing.
The amped up bass of Félix Bélisle is vital to the danceability of the tunes, with Kenny Smith’s drumming filling and reiterating the throbbing bass. Laurence-Anne Charést-Gagné, a much-lauded musician in her own right, plays lead guitar, with Melissa De Menna adding rhythm. The two guitarists have brief turns at the keyboard, whereas sound effects from a small synth (I assume) with fake pole-dancing poses is the domain of Viens-Synnott, obvs.
The band played for just under an hour and more than held everyone’s attention with their ability to produce vigourous numbers. They had the younger audience members jumping around and the older rockers nodding in time, (not nodding off). Everyone was having a good time, it seemed that everyone was smiling. It was impossible not to, the very definition of a feel-good act. La Securité are great fun and worth every minute of your time.
The queue for merchandise after the show was possibly the longest I have seen at Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom. The band were selling pre-release copies of their second album, which is officially out on Friday 12th June, 2026.
Before La Securité, the Norwich based The Aide played a great set, again with bass guitar a critical element in the sound. The bassist, Anthony-Rolf Atkinson made the effort to put on a white shirt and found a smart tie for the evening . His playing was pure jazz in its sophistication, while rocking in delivery. The drummer and band leader, James Hastings-O'Shea drove The Aide merrily through a lively half-hour set without worrying too much about clever lyrics.
I could happily listen to recordings by The Aide and will go to see them play again, (they are next on stage when opening for Vieira & The Silvers on 12th June 2026 at the Waterfront Studio – tickets here). The Aide are definitely a band worth seeing.
Decent Wrestlers are a guitar and drum duo who know what they are about. They are highly considered locally and played a great rocking set, which made getting down to Voodoos early extremely worthwhile. The next steps for these guys is to raid a few piggybanks and find a recording studio. They could do worse than get in touch with Gavin Bowers at the Catch-21 studio in Norwich, who certainly would know how to capture the sweaty essence of the Decent Wrestlers.
 |
| Decent Wrestlers put up a decent fight |
Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom continues to be one of the country’s top music venues in my experience. Ben Street’s ability to get a crowd in for such a wide range of genres, the layout of the stage and the city centre location are unbeatable. There is always an act to get excited about in the calendar, not least Tiny Tempah (whose show sold out in less than an hour) as part of the National Lottery funded Everywhere At Once nationwide small venue festival this summer. Blue & Exile on Thursday 11th June will be a thriller too. Other events include Bag of Cans on 5th June 2026 with their campaneros SNAKEMILK, a gig that also has a Q&A session with Simon Williams of Fierce Panda Records, who is launching his book Up The Packet. If you are looking out for the latest new sounds, you could do worse than checking out the Thorpe Creative Hub Origins Festival on 5th June 2026, a multimedia event of local students' work, music, drama and more. Finally, TVOD will be coming from the USA on 26th August 2026 and should be worth a dekko. They are label mates of La Securité on Mothland, which should assure you of their quality.
Follow Voodoo Daddy’s on Instagram to get all the latest news as it breaks, while I will kick myself for not getting a ticket immediately when Tiny Tempah was announced for a show that will be long talked about in these parts.
~
Spencer Ide
28th May 2026
%5B23%5D.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment
Thank you for reading Spidewriter. Please get in touch with your observations or any questions you have. I look forward to hearing from you.