Heading into The Vault in St Peter Port on Saturday night one might be forgiving for thinking there’d be a nostalgic air to proceedings as this line up, Gay Army and Thee Jenerators, is one that has happened more than a few times over the years and, one could argue, both bands were in their heyday a decade ago.

As soon as Thee Jenerators launched into their set though it was clear nostalgia wasn’t on anyone’s mind as the band felt reenergised and, dare I use an old pun, ‘rejenerated’ from the off.

Running through a set spanning the band’s existence and featuring pretty much every one of their ‘hits’ from Mystery Man from their debut Jenerator X to Daddy Bones from latest album The Devil’s Chords and plenty in between.

Having not appeared live in the best part of a year (since last Christmas Eve), there were a couple of slips but this didn’t derail them as they blasted through with more energy than I’ve seen from them in some time.

After recently successfully revived not just Thee Jenerators but The Risk (at a show at The Fermain Tavern) and Sacred Hearts (at Sound At St James) its great seeing Mark Le Gallez back on stage and the whole band clearly went down a storm tonight leading to an encore of Who The Hell Is Frank Wilson? and the garage rock blast of Rocket 88.

Gay Army may have looked a fairly incongruous bunch when they take to the stage but they were just as sonically vibrant as Thee Jenerators, albeit in a slightly different way.

From frontman Rolls’ captivating, if strangely dark, charisma to guitarist Jo’s wall of post punk noise and bassist Ian and drummer Jay’s tight grooves, Gay Army also felt refreshed and more in control of their sounds than in their other recent performances.

As the set went on this all just grew and grew across a mix of tracks old and new that may go in dark directions lyrically but retain something irresistible as dance beats clash with echoing and feedback laden guitars and Rolls’ intense vocals.

This all culminated in longtime highlight song Cracked Amerika that, at least going by the title, feels even more relevant now than it did in the past before a fabulously distorted wall of noise closed the night on a high leaving me hoping it’s not so long until we see both bands again.