First off, I wondered whether the gig was going to go ahead; then I wondered whether the venue was going to be flooded; and then I was anxious about whether the trains would be running to get me there (and back).  The reason for my panic: Storm Ciara.

I had tickets to see Sorry play the Trades Club in Hebden Bridge on 12 February, and only a few days beforehand Hebden Bridge had been underwater; battered by Storm Ciara; submerged beneath the overflowing waters of the River Calder.

However, a post on the Trades Club’s Twitter site reassured me: The Trades is very much OPEN and trains and buses are running a normal service.  Moreover, they included a link to where people can donate to help those affected by the flooding in Calderdale.

The Trades Club was formed as a socialist members’ co-operative in 1924, and it is now known as one of the most innovative venues for live music in the UK.

The chance to see Sorry in such an iconic venue was too good to be true.  Sorry – comprising founders Asha Lorenz and Louis O’Bryen; drummer Lincoln Barrett and bassist Campbell Baum; and new synth player Marco Pini – are a hard band to classify.  Perhaps deliberately they defy labels.  Genre-defying, is a term, which has been used to describe them.  All I know is that they play great music, and their live performances are worth risking any flood to get to see.

It was an intimate crowd in the Trades Club that Wednesday night.  Intimate but enthusiastic.  Sorry played a good mixture of established songs, plus tracks from their soon to be released debut album 925.  Asha’s voice resonated strident, pure and clear throughout the venue, and the use of a loop pedal on the microphones created an eerie, echoing effect, on a dark, cold, Northern night.

For me, highlights of the evening were 2 Down 2 Dance; Starstruck; More; and Snakes.  Check them out when 925 is released on 27 March.

© Dalton Wells

Dalton Wells isn’t sorry he found the Trades Club.