Wet Leg Kicks Out the Jams for WNXP at Brooklyn Bowl

Wet Leg-120122-Brooklyn Bowl-35.jpg — Wet Leg
Photo: Steve Cross

When WNXP launched two years ago, it declared itself Nashville’s home for music discovery — a bold introduction to a city already full of great radio stations for curious music lovers. But the station, affiliated with NPR as part of Nashville Public Radio, has backed up its claim, delighting discerning Music City ears by playing a mix of artists just about to break into the mainstream, deep cuts from local acts and a smattering of artists from around the world.

Wet Leg is a prime example of why the station works.

The English rockers released their debut single “Chaise Longue” as unproven upstarts from the distant Isle of Wight in June 2021, but WNXP DJs heard something special in the song’s driving bass line, off-balance guitar riffs and deadpan vocal delivery from singers Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers. The station — itself just eight months old — put the single in heavy rotation, and as the band continued to flex its muscle ahead of their self-titled 2022 debut, WNXP fans eagerly listened along.

Who better, then, for WNXP to book for its two-year anniversary party? The band joined two Nashville acts Thursday at Brooklyn Bowl for a three-hour concert, with ticket sales benefiting the station.

“For so many of you, the first time you heard ‘Chaise Longue’ was on WNXP, right?” WNXP program director Jason Moon Wilkins said to the crowd Thursday. “We didn’t have to wait on anybody, any charts. No one was paying us to play that song. We just said, ‘Holy fuck, that’s a great song! We should play it right now!’ ”

VEAUX, an alt-pop trio made up of brothers Aaron and Dominick Wagner and Andrew Black, kicked things off with eight songs of anthemic rock that felt right at home in the double-decker setting of Brooklyn Bowl. “If You Could Feel My Love” was a highlight, inspiring the crowd to light up their phones across the crowd in the band’s adopted hometown.

Twen-120122-Brooklyn Bowl-39.jpg — Twen at Brooklyn Bowl for WNXP's second birthday party, 12/1/2022
Photo: Steve Cross

WNXP morning DJ Celia Gregory introduced the next group, Twen, by calling their July release One Stop Shop one of her favorite albums of the year. Jane Fitzsimmons’ vocals paired with the two-guitar attack of Asher Horton and Ian Jones channeled the most urgent sounds of ’80s indie rock on tracks like “Feeling in Love (From the Waist Down)” and “Automation,” and their funky punk rock — punky funk-rock? — was a perfect match for Wet Leg.

A fun, if perplexing, moment came when Fitzsimmons announced they would play a rendition of England’s national anthem in honor of Wet Leg. What came next was the opening riff of “Scar Tissue” by famous Californians Red Hot Chili Peppers, followed by an impassioned cover of Oasis’ “Don’t Look Back in Anger.” Things sure are different without Queen Elizabeth around.

Of course, the night was always destined to belong to Wet Leg, a band that is no longer reserved for hip public-radio listeners hunting for the next big thing. The band was recently nominated for multiple Grammy Awards including Best New Artist, Best Alternative Music Performance and Best Alternative Music Album.

Wet Leg-120122-Brooklyn Bowl-11.jpg — Wet Leg
Photo: Steve Cross

Wet Leg’s meteoric rise was fueled at least somewhat by the impenetrable dynamic of singers Teasdale and Chambers. At times, they embody a tweeness that makes it seem like they’ve only just learned how to swear — Teasdale wore a cozy knit hat topped with animal ears, which didn’t exactly dispel this notion — but then they blast out lyrics full of intricate, obscene and occasionally screamed reflections on sex, drunken parties and disillusionment with growing up and love itself. It’s a juxtaposition that works, and the crowd enthusiastically sang along on tracks like “Wet Dream” and “Piece of Shit.” Midway through “Ur Mum,” they joined the band in about 40 straight seconds of screaming before a massive final chorus.

The set included nearly every song from the group’s debut LP Wet Leg — sorry to fans of track seven, “Loving You” — and each was every bit as in-your-face as it sounds over the WNXP airwaves. Listeners did get one moment of music discovery with “Obvious,” an as-of-yet unreleased track that features uncharacteristic sweetness from Teasdale and a theremin-y synth line from utility player Josh Omead Mobaraki.

“Chaise Longue” predictably served as the night’s closer. As the Brooklyn Bowl crowd bounced around and sang about “the big D” and muffins being buttered, it was easy to hear why they fell in love with the tune in the first place: It’s a quirky, frenetic song that just doesn’t sound like anything you’ll hear anywhere else. Could there be a more perfect theme song for WNXP?