Bulgarelli + Spank Hair + neverlove

It’s emo night at the Pump as we welcome Bulgarelli (all the way from Bologna, Italy!!), Spank Hair (slightly closer to home, from the greatest footballing city in the world, Oxford) and neverlove (even closer – from Bath!!)

Bulgarelli mine a rich seam of mathy-emo, taking inspiration from bands like Braid and Cap’n Jazz through a filter of 2010s revival bands like Algernon Cadwallader, Dads, Marietta and Gulfer. I’ve always had a soft spot for European emo bands (Sport, Regarde, DAGS!, Baton Rouge etc) and Bulgarelli fit right into that lineage.

Spank Hair are more indie-mo than Bulgarelli but no less wonderful for that. They’re super catchy and fun as hell and in Wannabe and Ridge Racer they were pretty much the soundtrack to my summer in 2022.

And if you were lucky enough to catch neverlove when they opened for Parker recently you’ll know how good (and how nice!!) they are. It’d be super lazy to say American Football with a female singer but still…it’s American Football with a female singer and that’s fucking sick, right????