We made a reasonably last-minute decision to go to this 4 band Friday night gig in a brewery in Haggerston as we wanted to see Split Dogs for a third time this year, and we weren't disappointed on that front.
We arrived just as Xray Vez finished there soundcheck and a few minutes before the four-piece from Brighton came on, they are apparently a Wonk Unit offshoot, which as we walked out on Wonk Unit after was it 3 or 4 songs really didn't bode well.
They opened with Loyal a decent slice of fey anorak indie pop, that would have been great, if they were supporting Special Friend at the Victoria in Dalston, the other gig I was thinking of going too.
After a long intro from Veronique Hawksworth, they went into Buzzcut that didn't buzz half as much as it should.
Bloodstains sadly wasn't a version of the Agent Orange classic but was still about that time of the month. Thankfully Peaches was less sexist than the Stranglers song of the same name and may have been influence by the Teaches of.
Veronique asked who in the audience had Alkaline Trio Tattoos a question that mystified the two blokes next to me, who couldn't figure out what she was on about, apparently your chances with her go up if you have one.
God Only Knows kept the band's theme of nicking classic song titles and making far less compelling new songs, this has an angry edge and some more strident guitar. Horse Girls was for all the Girls Veronique grew up with who loved Horses more than boys, this was very home counties indie.
Raise My Glass is something we were all glad to do and we all like a drinking song come salute. They closed with Darren the bands love letter to a boy called well Darren they played an okay set of jangly indie.
Next on were Terrorpins a band just one letter away from being a Grateful Dead tribute act, but thankfully miles away from that musically, they have also got an ex-member on Wonk Unit in the band, I think the bass player, I was trying to work out what band I'd seen him play in before. They Opened with Addicted To Sound about the bands love of loud music and from the sound of it landfill hard rock.
Not The End Of The World had a decent riff and they were giving it everything they had. In Off wasn't about snooker sadly. The answer to What Am I is a decently proficient indie rock band with no truly memorable tunes.
Does It Offend You well no they didn't come close to doing that, they just didn’t grab me by the balls and make me want to see them again. Million Pedals was not only a great song title but also the best song of the set, before they closed with what I guess they hoped was sing along favourite Bad Ass Musak that is what the band believe they are playing, they may be worth seeing as a support act.
Finally it was time for the band that made the evening worth going to, the totally in your face hard core wrestlemania of Split Dogs who opened by making extremely clear how Very Annoyed they are at all the crap going on in the world right now.
Harry was stalking the stage as she ripped into Animal with Mil's guitar strafing us. Harry was soon shaking and pulling faces to emphasize the words she was singing on what I guess is one of the songs off the new album. Be A Sport is a great old-fashioned phrase that has so many meanings and in Split Dogs hands they are worrying and scary, but the pace of Suez Boyle's bassline drove this on.
Feeder was about as demented as they got as Harry tried to make it abundantly clear everything being shoved into her gob, Chris Hugnall pummelled the hell out of his kit. Big Fred was given his instructions as it was all on CCTV and he needed to get down and eat my sex this was blistering as ever, you can't take your eyes off Harry.
Harry then asked for a show of hands for who in the audience has had an STD and we were apparently an honest audience, several people fessed up, before Harry asked Why Does It Burn this was as caustic as ever. New single Monster Truck was souped up with custom decals and a ferocious roaring engine.
|
Harry then asked lots of questions for which the answer was always And What? a song from the new album I really need to hear a few times to get everything they are taking a pop at.
They then got all Smoked up and Choked up with loads of manic energy before they closed with Punch Drunk, that had all the swagger you get just before losing your legs. Split Dogs are one of the current must see new punk bands and totally destroyed it again.
Coming on after Split Dogs made it all the harder for dayglo queercore punks The Menstrual Cramps who were playing the bands last show with current guitarist Zam. They opened with a good harangue that might have been I Don't Wanna Boyfriend.
They then got angry and political on Boycott that had loads of free Palestine chanting to go with it, that as the bands set went on became more pronounced in its confusion, of course a two state solution is the only correct answer to solving the current conflict, but the thought that whichever Palestinian authority that takes over will be Lesbian or abortion friendly is unlikely, let's just stop all war.
Voices was a scrappy hardcore punk song about gender issues, that was followed by the band's ode to the joys of Mutual Masturbation with Emilia the singer giving us her best moves.
They took delight in making sure we all knew about Corrupt Tories that was as angry as it should be, This Is Class War kept up the anarcho edge they had, as they got properly Antagonistic it felt like we were being hectored in between shout outs to Zam and thanks for being part of the bands herstory.
They then arrived at the song I had most trouble with Abortion, the song appears to celebrate the singer having had two abortions, I am totally pro-choice, but with certain reservations, down to how you've got pregnant, if its due to rape or sex abuse of any kind then Abortions should be available without question. But if you get pregnant after drunken sex and you were both too sozzled or stoned to use a condom, one mistake is acceptable, but then I would hope out of self-respect and some personal agency about your own birth control should come into play. So I am happy they want to sing pro abortion songs, just don't think celebrating having two of them is a good thing, even if I agree with Emilia it is your body and your choice.
Frack Off was far less controversial, telling anyone who things Fracking is a good idea what to do with themselves. They closed with Idols a song that takes aim at any of our musical idols that might have behaved badly in the 60's or 70's or beyond, especially when it comes to sleeping with underage girls, which at one point would have been almost every straight man in the industry sadly. The bands fans seemed to have enjoyed the set more than I did as they said adieu to Zam.
|
