Live Review + Gallery | Boss Cass @ The Exchange, Bristol

Boss Cass

The Exchange, Bristol

30th April 2024

Photography by Anna Hatfield (@anna.h_photos)

George Ward

Freelance journalist and online editor for CLUNK. Can be found out and about in Bristol, finding cheap records or having a pint on King Street.

Boss Cass (FKA fluff) takes his newly rebranded wild one-man punk set to the basement of The Exchange

Basement gigs are a difficult beast to tame. Too busy, you’re crammed against a sweaty wall with no escape; too quiet, you’re standing alone – in a basement. Luckily, for the newly renamed Boss Cass, The Exchange’s basement was the perfect setting for his wild one-man punk set.

After intense supports from MX, Mutant Menace and Bad News First, Boss Cass set up his signature boombox, with a neon light lighting up the back wall, his new name glaring at us, glitchily flickering.

Soon, we were introduced to the MC of the night, a female robotic voice (reminiscent of the video game Portal). After announcing the act, she asked us to cheer, before calculating that it wasn’t quite loud enough and asking us to repeat. It was a quirky way to start a gig and fit in well with the neon aesthetic and silliness of the night.

Very soon, with the jukebox backing track set off and the distortion slammed up, Boss Cass’s barrage of noise began. You might be doubtful just how much energy one man, an electric guitar and a boombox (and a robot, I suppose) can really bring but, watch a minute of this set and you’ll realise just how mistaken you have been.

As he performs, Boss Cass somehow matches the intense, chaotic noise of his tracks with ease, launching himself round the stage, into the mosh pit, onto the floor, and back again, pinballing off every surface of the basement. The energy is unpredictable, wild and so much fun, making up for the lack of band instantly and proving that stage presence truly is, sometimes, all you need.

Blasting through his set, with very little time to breathe, a highlight included ‘House Always Wins’, the first single released under the new name, after fluff was affectionately retired. The track is a monstrous punk banger and, with a fat, fat bass tone and glitchy shouts, it’s about as good a comeback as anyone could have asked for.

With unreleased track ‘Runt’ thrown in the mix and fan favourite ’21 Thunder’ closing things out, Boss Cass proves again and again just how special an artist he really is. It’s not an easy feat touring a one man band but, with every distorted riff, fat bassline and pounding drum machine, you can’t help but grin at just how much chaos one man can create.

Check out the full gallery below: