New Town Kings: Purple Turtle
Posted by jamie on Jan 30, 2012
New Town Kings, Anti Vigilante
Tyrannosaurus Alan, Upbeat Allstars
Purple Turtle, Camden
28th January, 2012
Jamie
A four-band bill of this quality, in central London on a Saturday night, needs scarce little introduction. All the same, it was amusing to see the show’s facebook page suggest that we “expect involuntary dancing from metallers who’ve come in by mistake”.
You do get a few at the Purple Turtle, of course, and the tunes in this place tonight are unrelentingly infectious, so there are decent odds on a flippant comment on facebook coming true for the first time ever.
As Upbeat Allstars get the party started, a few of us early punters are eyeing the last of the open spaces and itching to get our moves on. The sun’s still going down, and their infectious melodies quickly win over the last vestiges of self-consciousness: legs and then arms start to move to in time with the upstrokes in their vintage ska-punk sound.
There’s no horns, but, make no mistake, Upbeat Allstars are defiantly old-school ska-punk: Nick bangs seven shades out of his snare drums to the point where I actually winced for them, and there’s plenty of super-skankable upstrokes. It all comes together to make for some great, no-nonsense peppy little party tunes and they go down well.
Sure enough, it’s not long in to their short set before a few awkward long-haired metallers start to shuffle about their little space like scarecrows doing martial arts in slow motion. Mission accomplished, and with three bands still to go.
Medway’s Tyrannosaurus Alan, up next, are at their boisterous, surreal best. They’re almost bursting out of the small stage, over the front and at both sides, as they shift sheepishly between the ratatat-tat of their dirty, grime-core rap/punk/ska sounds and some brilliantly surreal stories about using a screwdriver to fail to fix a van’s cigarette lighter, getting splinters in your thumb, and “pubecising”, which, basically means going through puberty at speed. Or your voice breaking on stage. Poor Ollie only said it once, about Ben’s voice breaking, but the hilarity carries on for ages.If you’ve not seen Tyrannosaurus Alan play live yet, you really must: it’s almost always like this, funny, aggressive, and booty-shaking in equal measure. They put plenty of effort in, and they get it back from an appreciative room.
Anti Vigilante are in equally fine form: a flurry of shorts and muscly, sinewy little legs from start to finish, they’re forever buzzing around the little stage. They’re bang up for this, and their raw, uncompromising approach to skacore, and the speed at which they play it, mean they’re immediately a big hit in this room. There are a few stray moshers in, and they gleefully start circle pit after circle pit, each one sabotaged by rogue skankers sneaking in, or, at one point, someone just running through the middle. All of this, like the band’s set, is chaotic, but performed with fervour and huge smiles.
The chaos comes to an abrupt end, though, when the New Town Kings file on to perform. They’re here to get people dancing, but there’s a knowingly mischievous way to Chris’s teacher-style lectures on the subject, almost like he’s half telling us off, but at the same time enjoying it and finds the whole thing just a tiny bit silly.
By now the place is absolutely rammed, and everybody’s on the dancefloor. The New Town Kings glide through the gears like a well-oiled party machine, rolling out hit after hit with practised ease, while, in front of them, a packed floor try to move our feet in time, which is fine, and then our arms, which are for ever banging in to everyone else’s arms, and then, eventually, all the hips and bums down here are grinding in time.
It’s got hot down here, and their rich, smooth, soulful take on two-tone, uniquely movable at the best of times, is especially sexy this evening. A quick look around shows a few pairs who definitely didn’t arrive together and are now getting personal with each other, and there are surely a few more. All of a sudden, there’s a lot of love in here and a more than a few people eager to get it on.
Dynamite and then News Stand get them off to a bang, and, by the time they’re playing La La World, everybody’s joyously shouting, singing and swaying along. They wrap up with Take Hold of Me, my favourite, and Stay on Your Feet, and then encore the brilliant Fire in the Hole.
We’re breathless, by the end of it. I’ve managed to swap hats with someone, but dotted around, there are other sorts of swapping going on. Even ignoring all of that, it has become one of those shows where everyone loves each other: the atmosphere’s incredible: dog tired, deliriously happy, and everyone rushing around just to say nice things to each other. Wonderful.
Anti-Vigilante: recording soon
Posted by jamie on Nov 14, 2011
Start drooling: Anti-Vigilante are about to go in to the studio to start work on a new album. They’ll be joined in said studio by uber-producer Peter Miles. Excited.
Anti-Vigilante 2012 Headline Tour
Posted by jamie on Sep 21, 2011
Anti-Vigilante’s first (mostly) headline tour is going to happen in January. Already booked are shows in Birmingham, Cheltenham, Milton Keynes, Newcastle, Sheerness and London.
More shows will follow. Hit up Hidden Talent if you can help.
Dirty Rev: July tour dates
Posted by jamie on Jun 30, 2011
Our friends in Dirty Revolution have sent us a little reminder about their tour dates for July. A stunning array of support acts includes Random Hand, Tyrannosaurus Alan, Anti-Vigilante, Broken Nose and the Have Nots.
JULY 2011
2nd LONDON UNDERWORLD w Random Hand, Have Nots, Broken Nose, Tyrannosaurus Alan
4th LONDON VIBE BAR
9th CAMARTHEN PARROT MUSIC BAR w Broken Nose, Tyrannosaurus Alan
10th CARDIFF UNDERTONE w Broken Nose, Tyrannosaurus Alan
16th ASHTON UNDER LYME WITCHWOOD w Anti Vigilante, Broken Nose, Tyrannosaurus Alan
SB6: new songs are good
Posted by jamie on May 13, 2011
It’s dead hectic around here at the moment, and that meant I missed out on seeing the Sonic Boom Six and Anti-Vigilante demolish the Craufurd Arms. Word is that that show was off the chain.
Anyway, in case you missed it on our facebook, we’ve heard from a mate that the new SB6 songs are pretty boss. Here’s proof:
And, while we’re here, some more proof. this one’s a bit old, mind, but still:
We did get to see both bands in the same place last year. Review junkies can catch up on that one here.
Oh, and to stay up to speed with our facebook, you should go and like it here if you haven’t already.
Capdown: summer tour
Posted by jamie on Apr 11, 2011
After their advance sell out show at Camden Underworld, CAPDOWN return to the live circuit later in the summer for the following shows. Have a sneaky at the stellar supporting cast..
JULY
29th NORWICH WATERFRONT w Random Hand, Vanilla Pod
30th MANCHESTER MOHO LIVE w Mouthwash, Chief
31st BRIGHTON HYDRANT w Random Hand, Mouthwash, The Junk
AUGUST
5th MILTON KEYNES CRAUFURD ARMS w Anti Vigilante
6th BLACKPOOL WINTER GARDENS - Rebellion Empress Ballroom
7th PORT LYMPNE HEVY FESTIVAL - Main stage
An impromptu invitation led to CAPDOWN heading the Vans stage at the 2010 Slam Dunk festivals, and they had fun , so they’re back, it’s as simple as that. No timeframe. No agenda. NO PLAN. They’re here till they decide to stop, so make the most of them while you can.
See it on facebook here.
Sonic Boom Six: Craufurd Arms
Posted by jamie on Apr 15, 2010
Sonic Boom Six, Knock Out
Anti-Vigilante, AWarAgainstSound
Crauford Arms, Milton Keynes
9th April, 2010
Jamie
Few things are better than enjoying the music, live, of a shared favourite band with friends. Pineapple Malibu, for example, is much too sweet, even for me, and will go down as a lesson learned. A trip to a particularly good chippy, though, is surely something that would enhance any night: that pretty much goes without saying.
On certain days, though, everything just seems to go turn out perfectly, and this was one of those evenings. That it would later include Guinness-punch and Jonathan Creek, both of which were very welcome surprises, is proof, if proof were needed, that I really should have bought a lottery ticket and that, where ideas are needed for a party, my friends consistently come up with the goods.
When Theo produced a green-headed devil/dragon thing that lives in a plastic ice-cream and whistles, well that was just the icing on the proverbial cake.
The Crauford Arms, as has been said, is a lot better than the Woughton Centre. Instead of swimming pools, a psychedelic 60s rock covers gig in the other room was the stark contrast to our gig in the back. There’s a cheesy line here somewhere about music’s past and it’s future next door to each other in the same bar. It just feels too corny to put in. They were nice enough when we came in to use the bar, though.
Problems with various sound-checks mean that AWarAgainstSound start late, giving us more time outside to eat award-winning chips but less time to actually watch them. Undeterred, AWAS race through twenty minutes (twenty minutes!) of tight, technical, old-style skacore. Last song Pull Your Twos Out Your Pocket is the only one I knew (it’s on the TNS Comp) but their short set kicks off a great pit for the minority who are early and also very hard, so that lot got to do their thing at high speed. AWAS also went down very well with us pint-holders, though: they bring a refreshing sincerity to the ska/hardcore thing, and rip through a collection of startlingly good songs with such energy and so much physical effort that a few of us are left breathless just standing still. They have a new record out, by the way, which will be well worth a look.
Anti-Vigilante, who played next, were also cut short. Keeping in mind that the two bands have just completed a whole tour of their own, getting them both in to open on this show was something of a coup all the same, and, at a home-town show, Anti-Vigilante go down a storm. It’s still relatively early, and a beautiful summer evening outside, so the room still has plenty of space in.
It’s starting to fill up, though, and beginning to glisten with shared sweat. Most of that remaining space is around a growing and frantically moving throng right in front of the band. It gets pretty heavy in there, so you’re either in or out.
Anti-Vigilante have a large and devoted fanbase in Milton Keynes, and, playing to them for the first time in a while, they get a rapturous response. They deserve it, too: I’ve watched them a few times in the last couple of months and they keep getting better and better. They also seem to get less skacore and a little more ska every time I watch them. Tonight was an especially skankable example, with sax and upstrokes to the fore. Not that it stops anybody down front from gleefully throwing themselves around. That little bit of extra room for skanking and pogoing works out a treat all the same, and an energetic set is eagerly gobbled up by an appreciative pit and enjoyed at the same time by a steadily growing crowd at the back of the room, all of us working our way further and further forward to take in what’s going on and to get more involved.
Tonight was the second time in a week, and also the second time ever, that I’ve seen Californian punkers Knock Out, and both times I’ve been very impressed. A four-piece with two guitars (and no horns), they’ve got an impressive musical range, moving from the harder end of pop-punk to breezy, easy-going reggae with accomplished ease and confidently dominating the stage and the room in that way that US bands seem to be particularly good at. Knock Out hold the room pretty effortlessly and, once that respect has been earned, we’re all bobbing and swaying with them. Their cover of Madness’ It Must Be Love* is a particular highlight, and, put in earlier in Milton Keynes than it was in Birmingham, still provokes lines of sweaty arms over sweaty shoulders and has all of our heads slung back and happily singing along. We rock out with them too, and a good time is had by all. I was really impressed by these guys.
On nights like these, where everything happens just how you’d want it to, the Sonic Boom Six have a happy knack of showing up and starting a party. I still credit them, by the way, with the greatest gig I’ve ever seen.
This isn’t the first time they’ve played without Ben Childs, but it was meant to be. Matt Crosher’s misfortune on the Rebel Alliance Tour meant that new guitarist Jimmy T Boom actually made his debut in High Wycombe. In the dusty, sweaty heat and the half-light here, though, the first real sign of his presence is a dirty dub beat underneath the intro to Welcome to the City of Thieves. In his own words, Jimmy is “all about bass that goes right through you, and dubstep that f*cks you up”. We’ll take that first beat as a downpayment.
The Sonic Boom Six enter and open with Polished Chrome and Open Kitchens.
Meanwhile, Back in the Real World and The Strange Tale of Sid the Strangler come next, setting the tone for a set that’s taken mainly from the two most recent records, City of Thieves and 2007’s Arcade Perfect, which gets its American release shortly when they head over to the US, again with Knock Out. Laila’s “sshh” gesture, silencing a screaming crowd before the first words of Meanwhile, Back in the Real World still works really well, and, hushed and brought to a standstill by that, we immediately spring back in to life on “never one to break any rules..”. It all basically goes off from here on.
I wasn’t the only one to notice that the vibe in MK was friendlier in Milton Keynes than it was in Birmingham on Tuesday. That meant that, as there wasn’t as much full-on moshing and rocking out going on, there were more bodies down at the front jumping around, partying and swapping sweat with each other. I still smashed heads with three people, but the speed with which we scooped each other off the floor is a credit to the camaraderie and general goodfeeling in the pit. We still climbed all over each other to get an “Awooo” in in Strange Transformations, mind. New song Bandito sees Jimmy get his own special introduction and is really well received. Chants of “Oi! Oi! Oi!” go up during th verse, and Laila’s got a cool little “Ah-aaaaaaah” bit. The other new song, Shockwave, is more of a ska song and promises to be a real live hit. After that, the “Sonic Boom Six self-indulgence bit” sees us all under instruction to rock out to Jericho and For 12 Weeks, the City is Theirs - as if it’s possible to do anything else.
Barney gets his own little freestyle, dedicated to AWarAgainstSound and Anti-Vigilante who “bring a tear to his eye”. It’s about how important it is to nurture new bands and how tough it can be for them to break through, and it works really well in the live set. At the second time of asking (in Milton Keynes, at least), it leads in to Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang and then Ya Basta, both done without samples this time. Next up is the band’s addictive new cover, Puretone’s Addicted to Bass, where the bass really does go right through you. It is one of those songs you know that you know but can’t actually place until it kicks in, and that’s where we went totally nuts. The total opposite happens to The Rape of Punk to Come: when the opening lines of roll through the room it’s recognised immediately and a perfect end to hectic, sweaty set.
We were begging for more by then, though, and rewarded with Rum Little Scallywag, in which Nick plays trombone for the first time tonight, and finally Bigger Than Punk Rock, where he doesn’t. It works well with the guitars, though, and, though there is a feeling of watching a different band, what they’ve done has definitely worked: there’s enough of the classic Boom that we know and love in there too. There have, of course, been a few tweaks to the set-list, but those old favourites haven’t gone anywhere and the new material sounds absolutely fantastic. It was a stunning end to a great show and a great night out: Milton Keynes knows how to party.
Oh, and if you missed Jonathan Creek, the guy’s wife didn’t die: she helped him kill another woman and then dressed the body in her own clothes. I think. We weren’t really watching.
*It was Madness’s It Must Be Love that they were playing. Labi Siffre wrote it, but he didn’t play it like that.
The Skints, Dirty Rev, Mouthwash, Anti-Vigilante
Posted by jamie on Mar 25, 2010
The Skints, Dirty Revolution,
Mouthwash, Anti-VigilanteLondon
20th March 2010
Jamie
It’s rude to look a gift-horse in the mouth, apparently. For anyone as confused as I was the first time I heard that, it basically means that if something arrives in your life as an unexpected gift, you should grab it rather than waste the opportunity by checking whether or not it’s right until, just too soon, your lucky surprise disappears. It’s to do with a horse’s teeth being a good clue to its age, if you’re still struggling. Like the rings in a tree. Whatever.
So, anyway, when Josh out of the Skints, mentions, not once but twice, that there are plenty of punk rock shows going on in London tonight, I decided I’d give in and let him decide my opening paragraph again. As a front-man, the guy is wonderfully quotable, and I ended up doing the same thing the last time I reviewed the Skints. The thing is, there’s something that really, really needs to be said on that subject. To put it simply, everyone I know has been talking about this show for ages. In fact, I saw people who I know had come from Milton Keynes, miles away up North, and Southampton, right on the south coast, to be in this room. That basically means that in the whole of the south of England, for this many people and more, this was the room to be in.
Touching as it might be for the Skints, or for any of the bands that played tonight, that they’ve drawn a crowd despite there being other decent shows on, tonight, between them, they’ve made the Borderline the hottest ticket in town.
Without that ticket in my pocket, it was a stressful rush through a rainy Saturday afternoon tourist jam on Tottenham Court Road, and, the doors being firmly shut when we arrived (5.30), we ended up doing that twice. No dramas, it’s well worth it once you’re inside.
Anti-Vigilante open the show with a wonderfully vital set of peppy, snotty, spiky ska-core that immediately gets the early arrivals pogoing and happily shouting back. For the record, this is another Rebel Alliance show that’s close to full from pretty early on. The rush for tickets and the panic among the likes of me who couldn’t get them early enough to feel safe probably saw to that. Anti-Vigilante, of course, are as good as it gets as an opening band. They start with Skoliver and race through a typically abrasive set, stopping only briefly to shout out to the other bands. These guys are more fun every time I see them, and are clearly delighted to be here tonight. Grinning from ear to ear, they spin the room, while there’s still the space, in to a skankpit that’s all elbows and feet, and scarcely even stand still themselves: four lads from Milton Keynes become a flurry of riffs and kicks and the night’s off to a great start. Anti-Vigilante marry their trademark enthusiasm to a great set of songs. By the time they’re gone, I just bobbed upstairs for one minute, and immediately, coming back from the chill upstairs, walked in to a wall of sweaty air between stairs and dancefloor. Underneath that heavy, sweaty cloud there were smiles slapped across every single face that bore testament to what had just happened. It’s raining outside, but the Borderline still make you wait out there in lines for ages. Surely a sulk or two, out of the whole room, could be forgiven? Not a bit of it.
The identity of tonight’s second band has been kept a secret. Chips has been asked a few times for any rumours. Josh from Anti-Vigilante did mention “a sort of London-themed surprise” at one point, but then quickly hushes up the shouted guesses. Having spotted every member of Mouthwash in the crowd before they sneak on, under cover of darkness, though, it’s not a total surprise that they’re up next.
I’m ill, by the way, so watched this one tucked away at the back. Pretty soon all you could see was a see of fists and pointing hands in rhythm to chants of “solid as a rock” over and over. It pretty much just took off from there, That Girl, is glorious and Josh (the Skints) appears to guest on Fool’s Gold after. It’s a heady stomp through a stunning set of songs: the basslines and riffs are so big you can feel them through the floor, and the room fairly shakes with the amount of sound Mouthwash are producing. Pinned back by the sound, we’re pretty much stuck where we’re standing but the floor below us is going off and all around on the upper levels little pockets of pit and of dancing just open up and move around all the time. As the guys play on, the usual songs are gobbled up with glee. No Fear, as usual, becomes something of a love-in, and We Evolve is close to the opposite. Mouthwash deliver their set with so much energy and that really transfers over to the room. It just makes you so happy. They’ve given an incredible set, so it almost seems a shame to mention the fact that the sound guy cut them off in the intro to Hazy Days. It would’ve been the last song, and they were allowed to start it. Scarcely had it begun, though, before the sound was cut underneath them. We don’t usually do this sort of thing, but really, I’d complain to the Borderline. Click here to do it. I’ve never, ever seen that happen. If proof were needed of just how good Mouthwash actually were, though, after the initial confusion and disappointment, it didn’t really put a downer on the night. No-one likes a jobsworth, but I guess the vibe in there was just so good it could survive.
Dirty Revolution are the latest addition to the Rebel Alliance roster, and their first release on the label is due out on 10th May, and pre-orders are available. In an ever-tightening crowd, I caught a quick word from Punktastic’s Alex Hambleton. He’s got his hands on an advance copy and apparently Before the Fire is incredible. Stepping confidently out, all four of them head to toe in black, Dirty Revolution look a totally different beast to the band I watched open a Do the Dog show at the Rhythm Factory in 2008. Even then, though, as the newest act on that label, they looked like a really exciting prospect and a fantastic live band.
A more traditional, rootsy take on the punk/ska/reggae thing, Dirty Rev are a “classic” four-piece, drums, bass, and two guitars and vocals, and, where needed, a melodica. From that first EP It’s Gonna Get Dirty, they’re still playing I Love Reggae, which opens the set, and 50p: “this is a song about my arse”, surely the introduction of the night, if not the year. In it, for the record, Reb does sing about her booty. I’m sure you know that by now. Their songs have always been jammed with melody, and the jaunty, choppy guitar work is a treat: upstrokes shouldn’t be underestimated, and here they get to demonstrate exactly why they’re so skankable. Sometimes You’re Too Rude off the new record gets an airing too, and, by the time they wrap up with Before the Fire we’re a swaying, rocking, giddy mess. On the floor everybody’s moving too, and it’s not long gone nine. Gently sparkling with other people’s sweat and hungrily sucking in cold air in search of oxygen, the Borderline relaxes after a good, hard work out for its legs and readies itself to go one more time..
The Skints, predictably, are pretty much out of this world. Taking the stage underneath tourist town in the clammy, yet oppressively warm basement, packed with an adoring crowd, they set about finishing the night off in style. Emerging from behind a red velvet curtain always helps, I imagine.
And then there’s the songs. It’s been a hard weekend, and I’m so exhausted now I couldn’t put a setlist in order. The tough thing sometimes about writing afterwards is that at good shows a guy like me doesn’t want to be taking notes. Sick or not, I don’t think I’d have had a biro out tonight. There was no room apart from anything else.
Bright Girl turns up early, but it’s only been moments, if even that, that the Skints are on stage before the room is bobbing and weaving around, swaying joyously side to side and back and forth, shoulder to shoulder and wrapped in the heat and the rich, warm tunes. I’m shattered, and the show so rarely stopped that it’s a bit of a blur. At the point, though, where Josh teases “who can’t wait for summer?” and Jamie K starts to sing, the whole room bounces as one, and noone quite gets the “bom-bayyyy” bit right. No matter. Murderer, Roanna’s Song (and Sweat) and Change the Channel are in there and there’s one point where, right at the back of the room, when Marcia sings “I won’t hesitate..” for the first time, that I’d clapped my hand over my open mouth and was standing there totally agog and in awe. Yes, it was that good, chin on the floor good, and, for some, feet in the air good: we start to see crowd surfers diving full length from the stage. Most all of them seem to make it all the way back it’s so rammed down there, and then, somewhere after Murderer, right at the end, the stage is full of half the people from the pit. Two security types try to get on to get them down, but to begin with they can’t even get on there to get the people off. Contemplations of a Modern Rudeboy ends the show, but the Skints are begged back on to stage, having only got halfway off, in fairness, and perform Sociopath before the lights come on.
Once they are on, and it’s clear that nothing else is happening, we go our separate ways pretty quickly. In our almost trance-like state, there’s not much to grab your attention, really, or at least not much that could compete: I was totally knocked back by what I’d seen tonight, and that’s with being well aware of how good these bands actually are.
A couple of quick, spaced out, shuffling hugs, then, and, with the stairs to the exit right by the floor, it’s time to go. The room’s running out of air, after all, or, at least, there’s a lot of goldfish mouths about in the rapidly thinning crowd.
NEW Skints headline show.
Posted by chips on Feb 21, 2010
The Skints hit with a headline show at the Borderline in Orange Yard, Charing Cross Road on Saturday 20th March.
Support comes from their newest Rebel Alliance collaborators, Dirty Revolution Milton Keynes skacore upstarts Anti Vigilante.
Tickets £7adv. See it on facebook here. Also, here’s a pic of me with Josh from AV.
Other March dates in place right now :
11th SOUTHAMPTON UNIT
13th PLYMOUTH WHITE RABBIT
14th EXETER TIMEPIECE
18th MANCHESTER STAR & GARTER
26th SHEERNESS IVY LEAF BAR
27th ALTON COMMUNITY CENTRE
Dirty Revolution: Before the Fire
Posted by jamie on Feb 15, 2010
Dirty Revolution will release their first full-length album, “Before the Fire”, in March on Rebel Alliance Recordings.
To celebrate its release, the band will play an Album Launch show at Cardiff Barfly on 6th March, with the Melophobes and the fantastic Anti Vigilante.
There’ll also be a free instore show at Spillers records at 4pm on the day of the gig.
