Formal Sppeedwear, The Windmill review - Stoke-on-Trent trio reinvigorates the new wave era

As Stoke-on-Trent’s Formal Sppeedwear immerse themselves in what turns out to be their penultimate song, they become lost in the music. What they are playing takes over. Revolving guitar motifs spray forth like light reflected from a glitter ball. An elastic bass guitar bubbles, the frill-free drumming is hard, precise and about forward motion.

They are playing “Bunto,” the lead track from their May 2024 EP, a four-track 12-incher. The live experience confirms that Formal Sppeedwear are fully formed, a band knowing exactly what it’s doing. Everything meshes, forming a seamless whole. Add in bassist Beck Clewlow’s yelping vocals and it’s more-than clear this trio leans into aspects of the Seventies and Eighties new wave-era’s art rock.

After “Bunto,” their set ends with “The Line” – also from the recent EP. With its exhortations to “move a little….move yourself around a little,” it’s springy, skips along and is chart friendly. If it were 1983 or 1984, that is. Yet it is alive, contemporary and joyful. Rather than revivalism, the band’s influences are tapped into and reinvigorated. The line between then and now is unbroken.

The so-far unreleased 'Helipad' brings to mind the early Field Music

Earlier in the set at this sold-out show in Brixton’s 150-capacity Windmill pub the band – as well as Clewlow, there is Charlie Ball (guitar) and Connor Wells (drums) – play “6 Lofty Ash” from the EP and “Appointment” from its May 2022 predecessor, the digital-only EP Push. Back in March 2021, they debuted with a four-track, cassette-only EP titled Dynamite. Despite this catalogue to draw from, half their crisp eight-song set is of material which hasn’t yet been issued. They open with the so-far unreleased, immediate, jerky “Helipad,” which brings to mind the early Field Music.

Nothing about their musical stimuli is hidden. They are a self-declared “wonky new wave teacup.” Formal Sppeedwear have name checked A Certain Ratio, Devo, The Fall, Fripp and Eno, Peter Gabriel, Gang of Four, Bill Nelson, Neu, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Section 25, The Stranglers and Yellow Magic Orchestra. However, in spite of this exhaustive list, the unacknowledged Talking Heads loom largest. “Bunto” is a cousin of Dave Byrne and co’s “Once in a Lifetime.”

Formal Sppeedwear are picking up from where others left off to run with it

Also in the mix, to lesser degrees, are smidges of the Correct Use of Soap-era Magazine (specifically, Barry Adamson's rubbery bass playing) and XTC (as well as David Byrne’s, Andy Partridge’s silhouette is close to Clewlow). Ball’s fantastic, stabbing, swooping guitar suggests close inspection of Adrian Belew along with Robert Fripp. The technically flawless Wells is harder to place; New Order’s Stephen Morris around the time of their second album is perhaps perceptible. None of the band were born when any of these were at their peak, when the music of their home city was dominated by the local label Clay Records and its roster of hardcore punk. The heady stew Formal Sppeedwear creates isn’t nostalgia. And, for the enthralled audience, this is daisy fresh.

It comes back to that unbroken line. Formal Sppeedwear are picking up from where others left off to run with it. There are a couple of concerns though. One of Ball’s guitar pedals conks out and it takes a while to determine which of them has gone south, and then to rewire it all. The hiatus doesn’t faze the band. It was dealt with phlegmatically. However, he may wish to simplify his set-up. Also, when recording and rehearsing all three of the band use a lot of keyboards, including analogue synthesisers. None are employed live. So, instead, recordings from what looks like an iPad feed into the live sound. Wells is monitoring this with ear buds. By incorporating these fixed elements, they cannot let rip – the band are wedded to the tracks. It’s clear Clewlow could extemporise and Ball could break free from the song structures. Wells is so precise that any musical adlibbing would not cause the songs to fall apart. But this cannot happen due to use of the iPad. A keyboard player might free-up the band?

But these are not serious worries. Formal Sppeedwear are idiosyncratic, razor-sharp and ploughing their own path. Importantly, they have the musical chops to carry it off, plus a bagful of great songs and a winning on-stage charisma. Keep an eye out, they will be making waves.

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