The Moonlandingz, a hybrid of the Eccentronic Research Council and Fat White Family, played at Hebden Bridge’s Trades Club on a dark Valentine’s Eve. The Trades Club motto is “by the people, for the people” and this showed in the huge cross-section of society present at the gig. There were pint-swilling bald men, loved-up mums and giddy teenagers; it is obvious Rhe Moonlandingz have a hearteningly wide appeal. This was summed up best by the ten minutes I spent with a beery middle aged man who spent the whole time professing his love for songs like ‘Lay Yer Head Down In The Road’ and ‘Psyche Ersatz’.

The Moonlandingz is the brainchild of Adrian Flanagan from the ERC who approached Lias and Saul from the Fat Whites after a Fat White Family gig. They’ve released one EP and one album to rave reviews. Maxine Peake, who appears on the album, described The Moonlandingz as “cosmic synth krautabilly group doing fuzzy Joe Meek-style pop”, and I could never come up with something that so perfectly describes the band’s sound.

The most well-received song of the night was their magnus opus, The Tornadoes meets rockabilly masterpiece, ‘Sweet Saturn Mine’ which saw singer Lias Saoudi jerking and convulsing like electricity was pulsing through his entire body. This song in particular showed off the talents of the Moonlandingz drummer, Ross Orton, who pounded and smashed and grooved his way through the whole gig, clad in a hi-vis vest. The band were a tight machine, eight members strong and though the sound was powerful it was never muddy. Flanking the half-naked gyrating Lias and the jumping, maniacally grinning Saul Adamczewski were the two stationary members of the ERC, Adrian Flanagan and Dean Honer, both on keyboard duty and both resplendent in excellent headwear.

You wouldn’t imagine The Trades Club working in a Yorkshire town like Hebden Bridge, much like how you wouldn’t imagine the hedonistic Fat Whites working with the more reserved EEC, however as Saturday night proved, it just does.

Will Ainsley