This review taken from HermAphrodite #10.

The Action Time &

Bath Moles - 19/10/00

Though you may not credit it, there are several good reasons to go out in Bath of an evening. (Particularly if you’re already in the local area.) There’s the general nice-ness of the place for a start – it’s like a little lost piece of Harrogate that’s burrowed its architecturally-picturesque way down South. There’s the kebab van at one end of the high street which can leave you bouncing onto the half-one train home with a double-flake 99 in hand. And there’s the DJ at ‘Moles’, who owns (and likes to play) records by the likes of the Pixies and Bellatrix, as well as Elmo Monster, East 17 and the Rumble-tastic Ant & Dec. However, by far the most pertinently potent reason for my going out in Bath of this particular evening was that, well, my friend Charlie had told me I had to. The Lollies are playing. He’s friends with The Lollies. He’s not stopped telling me how good they are for, ooh, about a year. (And if that’s an exaggeration, it’s unintentional - it certainly feels like it’s been a year.) This is the first gig of theirs he’s missed. So I’m in Bath this evening as his ambassador, fully prepared on his behalf to set my toes a-tapping to any spangly three-way harmonies I there find…

Headlining the evening in this underground cavern of rock ‘n’ roll were The (contagiously hip-wigglingly excite-able) Action Time. Who are something of a time-warp hybrid between Jon Spencer and, um, The Supremes. Scissor-kicking skinny black with flailing ties, and smoothly shimmying sharp white A-line lady mods. Good boots, good hair, good songs. And a definite bonus to the evening, as my expectations and attentions been entirely devoted to their support...

The Lollies first song of the evening is the gleeful ‘Susan Is a Lesbian Now’. Dancing myself back from distraction (the keyboard player has on a pair of truly fantastic black/red spangly boots), I concentrate, and realise this is probably where the Dandy Warhols comparisons have sprung from. (If you don’t wanna do heroin, why not decide maybe that you’re gay?) And just looking at the stage-set up – three girls and one boy on drums – can bring on a ‘Kenickie Alert’. Which is in part justifiable, in that theirs is a girl-powered spiky power-pop written with a loving eye for the ordinary little details (paean to Waitrose, anyone?), and, ooh gosh, a sense of humour. But they’re not from Sunderland. Far across the ocean from it. And are far closer in sound – if not spirit – to the fantastic Girl’s Groups of the 50’s and 60’s. Which makes them easily and infectiously poptastic in a way most bands seem to’ve forgotten the recipe for. The Lollies like cute boys and the Shang-Ri Las. And yup, you can tell. (They write lots of songs about cute boys. Songs are here dedicated to cute boys. And to their soon-to-be-married friends in the crowd. But mostly the cute boys.) But beyond the musical dexterity with which they wield the universal power of the snappy chorus, you should fall in love with this band because they cover Travis’ plaintive ‘Why Does It Always Rain On Me?’ – no wait, there’s more – and turn it into a ram-a-lama-a-ding-dong up-tempo bounce-along classic. Rock and hand-clapping roll…

Last revised: 27/07/01