Thursday 10/11/05 The Like @ The Barfly, Cardiff

For a band hailing from perma-sunny Los Angeles, The Like adapt surprisingly well to a dreary, rain-soaked November evening in Cardiff. With a precociousness – both in songwriting and worldview – that belies their tender years. The early 20s, California-based all-girl trio don’t, to use their parlance, ‘do’ sunshine. Starting tonight with ‘June Gloom’, they set a tone which as much writhes as it does rhyme their way to a melodious heaven of low strung guitars, furious drumming and two-way vocal harmonies that could shatter glass.

The Like formed in 2001, when bassist Charlotte Froom and drummer Tennessee Jane Bunny Thomas met guitarist Z Berg in high school. While their peers fussed over prom dresses, the girls discovered a mutual appreciation of new-wave and 60s girl-groups. Add into the mix some beguilingly twisted lyrics – influenced by Berg’s passion for Nabokov and her fascination with the Paris riots of May 1968 – and et voila: a heady, oestrogen fuelled cocktail of Anglophile rock which also recalls Throwing Muses and Veruca Salts at their rambunctious best.

All three members of The Like have parents in the music industry – Charlotte is the daughter of Mitchell Froom, Z is the daughter of A&R man Tony Berg and Tennessee’s dad drums for Elvis Costello. But any thoughts of nepotism should be quickly banished. Still without a UK release to their name, the band’s first EPs were well received State-side and put out by themselves. Now signed to Geffen, they’ve yet to make in-roads in the UK, but their debut album, ‘Are You Thinking What I’m Thinking’ received glowing reviews in the American press. A UK release date is expected in February, and the trio are tipped to make a similarly good impression here.

“I didn’t realise Wales was a whole other country till this morning,” remarks husky voiced Z Berg two songs in. “I’m so ****ing retarded…I thought England was next to India.” With such a cavalier attitude to geography, it’s hard not to instantly warm to The Like. Yes, their music oozes sex appeal; songs of recklessness, incurable longings and screwed up relationships dominate tonight’s set. But there’s a whole other dimension to their music worth discovering. ‘What I Say And What I Mean’ is a barrage of frenetic guitars and corkscrew bass lines powered by Tennessee’s muscular drumming. They change pace beautifully on ‘You Bring Me Down’, a slow-burner with an intense, howled delivery courtesy of Berg. She sings like an angel, albeit one with a major relationship complaint.

The Like write songs from a very personal perspective, but there’s a strong, almost impenetrable gang-mentality to them on stage. Barring the odd in between song remark – ‘Hello we’re The Like, we’re from LA’ – there’s a sense that they’re very much a closed shop. ‘Too Late’ and ‘Falling Away’ show there’s a great deal more depth to them than first meets the eye both musically and in terms of attitude. They close their all-too brief set tonight with their best tune. ‘(So I Sit Here) Waiting’ is a kaleidoscope of every great alt-rock girl group since the mid 80s. "I wanna be bad for you, you just lead the way…I don’t wanna think it through, never give a thought to tomorrow," pouts Berg. It’d be too easy to interpret the line in the most obvious way, but with a continual complexity and mystery bubbling under The Like’s surface, it could just as well be about anything.

Despite the angst and aggression of their songs, there are no sulky faces at the end. Their other task this evening is selling merchandise and meeting the fans. They hang around half an hour after the set, amiably chatting to punters about the tour before confiding to Gigwise that they’ve barely slept since arriving in the UK a few days ago. Their sheer delight at being here is entirely genuine. With the right exposure over here too, it might not be too long before it’s matched by the fans.