Just Mustard at Band on the Wall

Johnny James, Managing Editor
Just Mustard
Image courtesy of Band on the Wall

Just Mustard at Band on the Wall, Manchester 22 September 2022 Entrance is free — Visit now

Noisy shoegazers Just Mustard are playing the all-new Band on the Wall this September in support of their dark and dangerous second album, Heart Under.

The Irish band’s first record, Wednesday (2018) took us on a dissonant trip through noise rock, post punk, shoegaze and any number of increasingly paper-thin descriptors that music journos giddily reel off in articles such as this. It’s probably more helpful to think about Just Mustard’s music in terms of mood – the name of their game, really. Whirring guitars, trip hop beats and Katie Ball’s siren-call vocals conjure an existential kind of yearning, one that can twist your guts in bliss or fear or both, while the quintet’s softly industrial tones explode in slow motion.

Heart Under (2022) dials up the dread. Ball’s vocals are now pushed further forwards, where they haunt the night skies above David Noonan and Mete Kalyon’s scything guitars and Shane Maguire’s pounding, electronica-influenced drum grooves. Lead single ‘I am You’ makes the band’s wider ambitions clear. It begins in the somnambulant style of the first record, but soon it becomes unmoored from all that. Howling static and ungodly feedback pushes the track by force into something more epic, with Ball ditching shoegaze’s old ‘voice-as-instrument’ thing for full throated, gothic doom. It’s unnerving and captivating.

So too are the Just Mustard’s live shows, by all accounts. “Hypnotic and fierce” say NME, while DIY reckon they “hone the epic of Disintegration-era Cure during the Bloodiest of Valentines”. Band on the Wall, with its great new soundsystem, is a great venue for a band with sonic ambitions as grand as these.

Just Mustard at Band on the Wall, Manchester 22 September 2022 Entrance is free Visit now

What's on at Band on the Wall

Where to go near Just Mustard at Band on the Wall

The Rose & Monkey Hotel
Manchester
Restaurant
The Rose & Monkey Hotel

The Rose & Monkey Hotel is one of the Northern Quarter’s best music-led bars, with a truly impressive beer garden. Our new favourite Manchester pub.

Manchester
Restaurant
Foundry Project

The Northern Quarter’s self-styled ‘happiest place in Manchester’, based at the old Bluu site.

Stray
Manchester
Restaurant
Stray

Stylish modern bar serving sophisticated cocktails in the Northern Quarter.

Ancoats
Restaurant
Ramona

If you haven’t heard of Ramona by now then where have you been? Taking Manchester by storm, Ramona is a Detroit Pizza restaurant, with a salty twist… Frozen margaritas!

Manchester
Restaurant
The Firehouse

The Firehouse serves up quality food and drink at its new Wednesday evening supper club.

Manchester
Restaurant
Mackie Mayor

A Grade II listed market building in the Northern Quarter, Mackie Mayor is a key fixture in the ever-growing Northern Quarter food and drink scene.

Fringe Bar in Manchester's Northern Quarter
Ancoats
Bar or Pub
Bar Fringe

No-frills bar on Manchester’s Swan Street. A wide selection of beers and ciders mixed with a great jukebox make this an ideal pre-Band on The Wall drinking spot.

Noi Quattro
Manchester
Restaurant
Noi Quattro

Noi Quattro is an independent pizzeria at the heart of Manchester’s Northern Quarter.

matt and phreds sign manchester music
Manchester
Music venue
Matt and Phred’s

New Orleans reaches Manchester with this dedicated jazz club in the Northern Quarter – a reliable choice for a good night out.

What's on: Music

A black woman sat down looking to the left.
Until
MusicLeeds
Sound Out Leeds 2024/25

Leeds International Concert Season is on a mission to push boundaries, expand horizons, and ask the question: ‘What haven’t we heard?’ as it presents its city-spanning Sound Out Leeds series.

from £10.00
Two dancers and orchestra on stage
Until
DanceManchester
Dance:Music at the RNCM

Through a treasure trove of concerts, the RNCM’s initiative Dance:Music explores the symbiotic relationship between music and dance.

from £0.00
A musician looking into the distance.
Until
MusicManchester
RNCM Spring Season 2025

From classical masterpieces to cutting edge contemporary works, world-renowned soloists to homegrown talent, the RNCM spring season has it all.

from £8

Culture Guides

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

DaDaFest’s 40th anniversary line-up, contemporary reimaginings and outlandish fringe, check out our top theatre picks for spring onwards.

A woman with black curly hair sings on stage in front of a red curtain
Cinema in the North

David Lynch, International Women's Day and Manchester Film Festival are amongst our cinematic highlights this March.

the artist
Music in the North

The outsiders, the oddities and the outrageous – we’re keeping it weird with a hot new batch of underground gigs about to hit Manchester, Leeds, and Liverpool.

A large sphere floats in a dark room with an ornate wall pattern, flanked by two arched windows and a checkered floor.
Exhibitions in the North

From precarious ceramics to photography festivals, spring is here and brings with it a breath of fresh air in visual art and exhibitions.

Poet Imtiaz Dharker. Photo by Ayesha Dharker
Literature Events in the North

It's like the Woolies pick'n'mix counter this month in live literature land – so much choice, we're not sure where to start digging in.

Classical Music in the North

Read our latest highlights from the live classical music offer in Manchester and the North, taking in a number of the region's most cherished orchestral forces and venues.