After visiting Theatre Of Disco’s (T.O.D) website early last week, it was easy to see that they would likely feel at home with the Bang Gang boys, deep in the debauchery of a Friday night at Club 77. After a few listens to their single “You Who Me” it seemed like a fairly relaxed slice of bass-driven electro-pop, complete with effected vocals and some carnival-style synthetics in the chorus – I was prepared to give them my full attention.

The club had already accumulated a fair crowd when I arrived, just in time to see Ajax begin his first set. In front of the decks, dance floor space was temporarily sacrificed for a small stage that Jaime set about policing after some fairly eager girls spilled their drinks onto some pricey looking electrical equipment – a feat made much worse by the fact that one of said girls was in fact wearing a green shopping bag as a top. Ajax played to his usual high standard, gathering people to what remained of the dance floor with mixes of Princess Superstar and Da Fresh along with a particularly good mash-up of Mason’s “The Screetch” and M.I.A’s “Sunshowers” that I have been really enjoying lately.

Ajax’s crowd of dancers remained perched on the edge of the stage as Theatre Of Disco emerged and began to play. They exhibited murky and minimal electro, with both members gyrating as they played their first three songs. Vocalist Don QP has an interesting presence on stage, and his vocals serve their music much more effectively live than they do on the single. There was an undeniable tension about the band, with the first three songs serving as a massive build up to what would have been a veritable explosion in the small club. I was waiting eagerly for this explosion to take place, but sadly it didn’t occur.

The sound quality throughout the performance was ill suited to the music that they played, and further sound issues occurred when Don QP was unable to play his guitar – forcing them to skip one of the songs in their set. There were several attempts made to liven up the performance, including a simulated conversation with a stuffed animal and the inclusion of masks when closing their set with “You Who Me”. I honestly did not catch a word that the plush toy said, and the use of masks in a two-person electro outfit forced me to draw a comparison to The Presets, making Theatre Of Disco look a bit like their jealous cousin.

The rest of the night saw Damage, Jaime, Gus and Ajax all take to the turntables in various combinations, also with a surprise appearance by Isaac and Lola from Spektrum. The Justice remix of Franz Ferdinand’s “The Fallen” is proving to be a crowd favourite (Jaime seems to enjoy it too), whilst Gus worked the dance floor by bringing ABBA’s “Gimme Gimme Gimme” to the surface of Madonna’s “Hung Up”. Special mention to Bennie, who has developed an incredible set recently – particularly by playing ATOC’s “Acid Is Back” and the Dangerous Dan/Van She remix of Daft Punk’s “Around The World”.

Bang Gang continues to affirm its status as guaranteed fun – the kind of fun that you have building a pillow fort with your little brother and then not letting him back in when he forgets the password. Don’t pretend you’ve never done it!