Drenge may fear becoming a footnote in rock history as the "awesome new band" that Tom Watson advised Labour leader Ed Miliband to listen to in his letter of resignation from the shadow cabinet, but they deserve better than to be pigeonholed like that.

The Peak District duo of brothers Eoin (guitar, vocals) and Rory (drums) Loveless claim their debut album is a product of the boredom and claustrophobia of small-town life. At this free album launch gig, the gangling Eoin thrashes his guitar like a man settling a personal grudge; Rory's face is completely obscured beneath a fringe that parts at his chin.

Like the White Stripes, whose lineup they ape, their appeal is the classic combination of a ferocious intelligence at the heart of a dumb, potent noise. There are echoes of the Stooges' attitudinal asceticism in the visceral thrash of Dogmeat, while the petulant I Wanna Break You in Half could be In Utero-era Nirvana wasted not on heroin but on Tetley bitter.

The Loveless brothers may also repeat the Nirvana trick of appealing to hipsters and metalheads alike. The brutish riffs that power Bloodsports and Backwaters drip with the sardonic, malign intent that is the hallmark of Queens of the Stone Age, while the ultra-chippy Nothing ("I want to do everything you morons say," needles Eoin) thrums with a casual, louche menace.

The songs may be rudimentary but they are also red-raw and urgent. Let's Pretend would be an eight-minute masterclass in misanthropy, were it not for its redeeming black humour, and the closing current single Face Like a Skull captures the essence of nihilistic teenage insouciance. Ed Miliband may feasibly have more pressing matters on his mind, but he could do worse than follow his former colleague's unsolicited advice.

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