Glam Skanks Review: Middlesbrough Town Hall

A four-piece Glam Rock extravaganza unleashing a riotous show stopper worthy of any seasoned rock performer at Middlesbrough Town Hall.

They are Adam Ant’s choice of support for both his North American and UK tours!

They were also so damn kick ass rock n’ roll we thought them worthy of their own spot on our blog – so here goes, a four-piece glam rock extravaganza unleashing a riotous show stopper worthy of any seasoned rock performers at Middlesbrough Town Hall.

For the die hard Ant fans it was a long stint down the front awaiting the main event, however if we hadn’t heard of ‘Glam Skanks’ before, we were about to be given an unforgettable introduction to these provocative Californian hellraisers!

Evoking the spirit of the Glam rock era of the 1970s, none of these compelling and fiercely talented young musicians were even born back then.

This of course did not stop lead vocalist Vanessa McNeil exuding her own particular brand of Glitter Glam, confidently making her presence felt with strong powerful vocals and a self-assured stage repertoire that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a New York Dolls set.

From the opening tracks performed from their most recent release is the vehement ‘Anything In-between’ a take on ‘gender norms’ in society. Each track is executed with a turbulent yet sophisticated unruliness that gives the impression that Glam Skanks really don’t care what you think, but they’re going to make sure you damn well remember what they think.

Another stand out track ‘Time Warp Woman’ for the purists out there, has definitely more of a hard rock edge.

The theatrics that accompany each track during the set are breathtakingly honed to perfection with Veronica Witkin on lead guitar demonstrating the best duckwalking we’ve seen to date (and we’re pretty sure we witnessed a few scissor kicks in there too).

Bass guitar comes courtesy of Millie Chan, who again with her own uncompromising style also channels the spirit of the great guitar driven rock stars of the 1970’s.

There are plenty of nods and references to T.Rex and Bowie, even with a bit of Aerosmith thrown in. On the whole however ‘Glam Skanks’ are in a league of their own opting to seal their own stamp on an era that has long since passed, but thankfully lives on in a new breed of guitar led bands.

‘Jurassic snark’ (one for all the Dinosaurs out there) really does showcase the talent of each individual band member with drummer Jessica Goodwin setting the tempo, evolving slowly into a  more bluesy influenced track.

With lead vocalist Vanessa McNeil directly addressing the female members of the audience at various intervals between tracks, ‘Glam Skanks’ are a breath of fresh air to a once rather stale and somewhat male dominated genre of music.

Glam Skanks have all the hallmarks of a band destined for great things, and after their recent performances across the UK we have no doubt they’ll be headlining their own shows any day now.

Catch the band on the remainder of the UK leg of their 2019 tour supporting Adam Ant until Dec 12^th.