When, in 1995, Babes in Toyland’s Kat Bjelland was asked to describe the band on stage, she summed up the experience as “full-frontal, assault-type action”. Eighteen years after singer and guitarist Bjelland, bass-player Maureen Herman and drummer Lori Barbero last toured together, Babes in Toyland are no less shocking, combative or thrillingly alive.
The tight, solid three-piece have distanced themselves from the messy rancour that accompanied BiT’s demise in 2001 and returned to the heady days of punishing, proto-riot grrrl punk when this, the second incarnation of BiT, successfully took on the grunge boys at their own game and unleashed a howl of uncontrite female rage that still reverberates today. True to her role as the co-creator – with frenemy Courtney Love – of kinderwhore fashion, Bjelland is a fragile figure in a delicate minidress, her black hair teased into a precarious bird’s nest. But the moment the stomping rhythm and attacking chords of He’s My Thing burst into life, Bjelland’s eyes stare manically, her vengeful voice roars demonically and she adopts an aggressive, legs-apart stance crushing all delicacy underfoot.
The pace and fury of BiT’s heavy, metal-influenced sound don’t let up for the next 60 minutes, spanning the early mewling menace of Spit to See the Shine and Rise, to thunderous career-highlights Bruise Violet, Won’t Tell and Handsome and Gretel. It’s the poisoned lullaby of Ariel, from third and final album Nemesisters, however, that demonstrates what sets BiT apart from the diluted girl-fronted rock that followed them, as Bjelland’s vocals swing from sweet to sinister, then seditious.
But while the band is a powerful force of nature, they are also giggly friends, very obviously enjoying one another’s company and the adoration from a surprisingly youthful crowd. When they sing the “pull my legs apart” refrain from Vomit Heart back at Bjelland, she’s visibly overjoyed. Barbero, meanwhile, declares: “I could do this every night for the rest of my life!” Let’s hope she means it.
• At Oran Mór, Glasgow, 28 March. Box office: 0141 357 6225..
