Yes this was my second album launch show of the week. This time for Taurus Trakker's third album Death Coaching. The show was at The Alley Cat: a basement on Denmark Street that has been called many things over the years and has retained many of the decorations up from its time as Peter Parker's Rock & Roll Club.
Opening the show were SPIZZENERGI who were performing as an acoustic duo rather than the full band so it was more Spizz Low Carbon Footprint than Spizzenergi. Either way it's always good to see Spizz every once in a while and this was a warm up for his show headlining the Bizarre Bazaar stage at The Rebellion Punk Festival next weekend in Blackpool.
Spizz was accompanied on acoustic guitar by Luca Comencini and they opened with their latest single Red & Black: almost a tribute to all those bands who currently perform wearing red and Black and there are quite a few of them. Still it sounded fine and Spizz's voice sounds really good.
Mega City 3 was next and while Spizz hammed it up a little bit it rocked pretty well for an acoustic song and of course as ever Spizz was flashing from the lights on his belt. They then went all French on us with a decent version of Jacques Brel's Amsterdam played very much in the style of David Bowie's version though it was a real highlight of the set.
They kept with the covers for a very hammy version of Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me) the old Steve Harley classic that was almost done in a cabaret style. It got many of the audience singing along with him though.
Soon enough we got to the "Hits" part of the set with a great version of Spock's Missing which inevitably had to be followed by Where's Captain Kirk. It goes without saying that had almost the entire audience singing along to the chorus.
Spizz then got Ben Lawson up to sing backing vocals on a second version of Red & Black. It sounded much like the first version apart from the backing vocals and I have to say I wondered why with over 30 years performing as Spizz he felt the need to play a song twice in the same set.
They closed with City Of Eyes. It sounded great and had Spizz pointing at the eyes on his outfit and of course as we are in the centre of one of the most watched cities on earth it seemed a totally appropriate end to a healthy set.
Soon enough it was time for TAURUS TRAKKER who, to launch the album, were going to play Death Coaching in its entirety. First, however, Alison Phillips did a short reading of a piece about the futility of war and the need for peace before they opened the set with a great version of the Dream Inspectors; setting the mood nicely before they really got us going on Upside Down and Shake that really ought to have some proper dance moves to go with it.
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Chicken Wings really does need to be heard live as Martin Muscatt really brings the lyrics to life and we all wonder about who is the King of Chicken Wings. I think it was on Motormouth that they were joined by Norman Bailey on harmonica for the first time to accentuate this tale of an idiot who just won't shut up as he speeds his life away.
Mister B had a great sax solo from David "Flash" Wright who - when he wasn't playing - seemed to stand guard over the door to the ladies loo. Hell, it was time for the Gurus Of The Blues, which also went down a treat before the full on madness of Hang On Levi. That featured some wicked harmonica from Norman Bailey and some additional guitar from someone whose name I didn't quite catch while James 'Wigsy' Simmins played bass.
Queen Of Needlestuck worked a treat for Trakker's normal audience of old school punks and rock and roll detritus with its tale of everyday junkie bizness. Tear's Don't Fall In Outer Space was far more epic live than on the album. That just left the album closer and live classic Wild Woman In A Small Town: as ever a real highlight as we all long to know that wild woman and hope she is never tamed by that small town.
They concluded with a couple of older songs. First up was the title track of their last album Building Ten, sounding as good as ever before they played Bag For Life as a full 6 piece. It was the perfect closer for a damn good set of street punk that needs to be seen and heard live.
More on Taurus Trakker's new album Death Coaching
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