Politics, personal connections and escapism combine in launch party for Gemma Rogers’ latest EP
London-based Gemma Rogers and her band introduced the world to her latest EP, No Future, with a performance full of energy, wit, anger, love and mischief, at Dash the Henge, the lovingly curated record shop flying the flag for Camberwell’s burgeoning music scene.
The first time I encountered Rogers, she was introducing her grandmother, who had come to recite poetry at the inaugural 19something festival in Reading. Somehow events conspired to prevent me watching Gemma herself play, but the festival was supposedly the genesis of the current lineup of her band, consisting of the charming Devid Dell'Aiera on bass, Andy Skipper on guitar and Jeremy Barnett on drums. Less than a year later it's hard to believe this unit has had such a short time together.
The evening starts with Death Knocked Up, a twisted yet hopeful fable imagining the business of escorting souls to the afterlife as a gig economy slog, performed perfunctorily, and zooming in on a female reaper whose outlook is enlivened by prospective motherhood. Rogers’ Death is given sympathetic treatment, but we are implored to ‘choose life.’ before the ending conjures another immortal quote from 90s cinema: ‘life finds a way.’
Image Copyright: Steve Axtell
Next we are taken on a journey deeper into the back catalogue, starting with Ship Of Fools from 2023’s The Great Escape EP. The song skewers malevolently incompetent governance and history’s uncanny knack of repeating itself, with a chorus that both sparkles and spits. The Great Escape meanwhile captures the entanglement of mundanity and magic that defines the domestic British getaway with a loved one, concerns of ‘don’t forget the toothpaste’ and being ‘stuck on the motorway, crawling in the fast lane’ melting in the warmth of lines like ‘we can live forever in the memories of what we do.’
For all the justifiable anger populating the songs, mainly written during the extended lurching zombie outro of the previous government, Rogers is a good natured bandleader. Dance of a Thousand Faces, from 2022 full-length No Place Like Home, sees Rogers deploy a ukelele in support of a defiant folk ballad - ‘feels like the world’s on my shoulders, dark days are still getting longer, what doesn’t kill makes us stronger’ – before promising not to do it again.
We then return to the EP, running through the three remaining songs in order. Coming for the Top is the most crystalised version of the story Rogers has been telling throughout, of rage at those responsible for taking so much from so many for the benefit of so few, spun through with golden strands of love. Its refrain of ‘not the left, not the right, but the bottom and we’re coming for the top’ is an earworm that demands to be chanted along by far more people than can fit in the shop.
Never Have I Ever has another overreaching, avaricious target: predatory men, be they on public transport, in bars or in positions of authority. This version of the anti-confessional drinking game opens with ‘never have I ever seen a man on the tube when I’m out with the girls and said “nice dick”’ and the role reversal situations remain depressingly plausible throughout, spelled out loud and clear by Rogers in the chorus: ‘NO means NO means NO.’
Image Copyright: Steve Axtell
Title track No Future takes a different road, echoing its recently released video that sees Rogers traverse empty roads, woods and beaches alone. Here, the noise of the state of the wider world is cancelled by concern for another, and searching for ways to connect. It’s rumbling synths, hushed vocals and an exploration of barely articulated pain being soothed just by someone’s presence: ‘no future, our future, our dream, been through so much and what hurts the most’ while underneath ‘I hear our sunrise calling’ – perfectly capturing the sound of nights that turn unnoticed into mornings in the company of someone dear.
While No Future would have been as ideal a closer for the set as it is for the EP, the band and the generous folks at Dash the Henge found time for one more song. My Idea of Fun, probably the most direct nod to the influence of the Specials on Rogers’ sound. Before we get started, mugs are handed to the crowd and filled with a healthy splash of Mount Gay. Rogers drops playful couplets like the standout ‘I realise there and then sobriety's doing me no favours, when in walks this tall dark fitness munching on some quavers.’ Dell’Aiera’s bass bounces encouragingly as the band creates soundscape of a blurry evening in the local and Rogers’ idea of fun creeps incrementally from a little shot, to half a bottle, to a whole bottle of rum.
No Future: Produced, Directed & Edited by Ric Johnston. With thanks to runner Pete Johnston. Shot on location in and around North Yorkshire.
In a brief set, we have been guided through the infuriating and occasionally inspiring place that is modern Britain, speaking the names of beasts without descending into nihilism. Getting angry about the world only goes so far without the moments of joy that allow a vision for a better one, and in her songwriting and performance Rogers seems to have found a balance to leave anyone listening hopeful.
Gemma Rogers is a force to be reckoned with. We urge you to check out her work and mainline some powerful, immediate and real music. Hit the buttons below to grab the EP (more stockists arriving thick and fast!)