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The Pale White @ The 100 Club, London (Live Review)

21 April, 2026
Published in Live

The Pale White

The 100 Club

Take It Off (Or Don’t): The Pale White Bring the Heat

There are at least 100 exhaled breaths hitting us like the backdraft from a fry kitchen extractor as we descend into the 100 Club. Acclimatising, we crane heavenward for answers and instead get a ceiling snaked with metal conduits and—wow—the highest concentration of broken zip ties ever witnessed. Our eyes track the chaos down to the two-metre-tall ‘100’, looming over a bass drum stamped with The Pale White in a A Clockwork Orange-style stencil. Oh, my brothers.

The Pale White—Adam and Jack Hope, plus Scott Hepple of the Sun Band—three Newcastle lads who look like they’ve slipped a time vortex and come back swinging. Adam dons a Canadian tuxedo, Jack’s in a Lennon-era “New York City” ringer tee, and Scott’s rocking something he probably outgrew in Year 8, paired with a pair of bootcut trousers that button in the back. The tunes follow suit: a mash-up of styles that shouldn’t work but absolutely do.

Opening with ‘Lost in the Moment’ is bang on—so is the crowd. Everyone’s up, belting it back. ‘Moth in the Headlights’ follows, snapping at its heels with an aggressive kick drum that sets the tone for the night. Adam’s vocals flirt with falsetto—think The Darkness—but pull the chute just in time, settling into a slow, rising hum like a mate spinning a yarn in a packed pub.

“We just released two albums in one year, how about that?” Adam tosses out, low-key flexing (Sir Lord Jimmy Crystal energy). Fair play—it’s no small feat. He asks for hands up across the room, like we’ve all just been yelled at to freeze. Is this the new 6–7? Who knows.

‘Absolute Cinema’ lands next, all Queens of the Stone Age circa Songs for the Deaf swagger. Around here, Adam pivots to stage banter via heat complaints and starts taking bets on how long the tux lasts. A chorus of “TAKE IT OFF!” rains down—largely from the women in the room. ‘I’m Sorry’ goes big: wall-climbing antics and Jack absolutely decimating the tubs.

‘Göbekli Tepe’ swings in heavy—literally. There’s friendly fire; the boat’s rocking and casualties are inevitable. Scott Hepple takes a bass headstock to the noggin courtesy of Alfred (and the Sun Band), but the mop top absorbs most of it. Soldier on.

Truth is, it’s hard to watch anyone but Jack. With premeditated chaos, he steals the show—working the kit like it owes him money, lighting cigarettes on a powder keg, mugging for cameras mid-assault.

So, what do we take from it? Easy to dream about floating off in a hot air balloon, away from it all—but good luck getting a pilot’s licence. The band stagger off spent, running on fumes, then rally for the die-hards with a cover of ‘All I Have to Do Is Dream’ and ‘Nostradamus’. And that’s that.

We’ll leave you with Adam’s earlier wisdom: “Don’t be sad it’s over, be happy it happened.”

The Pale White are on tour now—we reckon you’ll dig the gig.

Physical Format-20190515

15 May, 2019
Published in Columns

Things don't begin particularly summery with the June 2018 selection from Flying Vinyl. Nova Twins' Skunk Anansie meets The Prodigy sound is as heavy as that description is intended to convey. 'Hit Girl' pounds away with stacks of attitude and anger infused through it. 'Lose Your Head' does pretty much the same thing, although it lacks a hook & I barely took it in as I was typing a message whilst it was on. I think I've filled all the head space I have for this sort of thing so it's going up for sale. The duo have a new single coming out in the near future, according to Facebook.

Premium Leisure apparently curate their rock (so says the booklet this month), whatever that's supposed to mean. 'Water Pistol' doesn't make me think "classic rock 'n' roll" so that's another badly written element of the blurb. It's okay; no edges and no hooks but inoffensive. Like George Harrison's comeback in the late '80s. 'Gold Tunes' is more of the same. No one seems to want it on Discogs so it's into the fleamarket box. The act seems to have little online presence and to have been quite quiet since last summer.

Paris Youth Foundation (from Liverpool) get off to a good start with the sprightly paced 'The Off Button'. There's a good mix of synth-backed bits and guitar-heavy passages and I find myself comfortably nodding along to it. 'London', on the flip side, is a bit less accomplished and Snow Patrol-like but it's the second song so who ever plays those anyway? The band have a few live dates coming up this month.

Kashmere, from their photo, look like they enjoy Kasabian via Manic Street Preachers. 'Tokyo' fits firmly into the post-Britpop landfill indie bracket so that impression wasn't too far off although it does kind of come into its own just as it's winding to a close. 'Codeine' is thankfully not another version of that much covered '60s track but is rather more polished and synth-driven than the A side. Someone's apparently so loveable they're as addictive as the drug. Holy moly. Unsurprisingly the chances of a sale on Discogs appear slim but it's listed anyway. The group seem to have released no music in the past few months but do have a new badge for sale.

The Pale White also seem to be channeling Kasabian a bit on 'Loveless' and, as the track progresses I find myself thinking about Secret Machines, who I streamed earlier today having been reminded of them whilst getting rid of the singles I'd bought years ago. Decent enough indie rock which didn't find major favour & seems to have seen them disappear after only a few years. Unfortunately I predict the same for this trio. 'Peace Of Mind' is a grittier affair than the first track, however, and I find myself warming to the group. This one stays with me for now. The band toured Northern Britain earlier this year but their own site lacks any further information just now.