Mash Attack / Capdown: Southampton show
Posted by jamie on Jun 27, 2011
Southampton ska-punk nutters Mash Attack are playing with Capdown at Southampton’s Talking Heads.
See it on facebook here. Remember that Mouthwash have now split, though, so don’t go there expecting to see them. But still go, because it looks ace.
Mouthwash: 1995 - 2011
Posted by jamie on Jun 21, 2011
Our main men Mouthwash have decided that they’re not going to be in a band together any more. Obviously, we’re gutted about this and would like to thank the guys for all the good times and all the joy they’ve given us for sixteen (sixteen!) years.
It doesn’t explain why they’ve split, but Mouthwash’s statement in full is posted here and pasted below.
“Good day all,
Writing this statement is very strange for me as I have been in Mouthwash for the majority of my life and it is difficult to imagine life without it, but I can confirm that as of today we will no longer be playing together.
We would like to apologise to all our fans and say a huge thank you for making this a truly unforgettable and amazing experience. You were totally incredible and we are truly sorry that we cannot play some last shows for you guys. You are everything that is good about this band.
We would also like to thank all the bands we have toured with, to our booking agent Ian Armstrong and all the promoters who made it all happen for us. We would like to thank the producers we have worked with (Pete Miles and Charlie Hugall) and to everyone who has helped and supported us over the years by putting us up, putting up with us and driving and feeding us. It is amazing what we have achieved doing things DIY and it would not have been possible without you.
Our final recording Nine to Five produced by my brother Charlie Hugall will be available from tomorrow (hopefully) on Itunes. The video for the song was directed by our friend Adam Powell and is up on YouTube. You can watch it here:
I’m sure there will be future projects so keep a look out!
Big love and respect to you all,
Chris x”
New Mouthwash tour dates..
Posted by jamie on May 20, 2011
Mouthwash are super-organised, so they’ve sent us a little nudge about all of their dates for the rest of the year. Here we go..
JULY 2011
28th NEWCASTLE TRILLIANS
29th NOTTINGHAM MAZE
30th MANCHESTER MOHO LIVE w/Capdown
31st BRIGHTON CONCORDE 2 w/Capdown
AUGUST 2011
5th Rebellion, BLACKPOOL WINTER GARDENS
26th LEEDS FEST
28th READING FEST
OCTOBER 2011
24th LIVERPOOL O2 ACADEMY 2 w/Capdown
25th LEEDS COCKPIT w/Capdown
26th GLASGOW STEREO w/Capdown
27th NEWCASTLE NORTHUMBRIA UNI w/Capdown
NOVEMBER 2011
05th SOUTHAMPTON TALKING HEADS w/Capdown
06th LONDON KOKO w/Capdown
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.
Mouthwash: 9th April, Camden Underworld
Posted by jamie on Jan 28, 2011
Camden’s Underworld gets turned in to a giant steamy ball of happy sweat on 9th April, when London punk/ska antagonists Mouthwash are in town. Support comes from Claypigeon and some mystery guests.
Tickets are here. See it on facebook here.
Less Than Jake: MEGA support acts for UK November tour
Posted by jamie on Sep 8, 2010
As well as taking We Are the Union and Zebrahead on the UK shows in Novemeber, Less Than Jake have added “some of our favorite local bands” to the shows. Remember to breathe, because the list they’ve put together is absolutely killer.
That list includes the Skints, the Arteries, Mouthwash, This Contrast Kills, New Riot and Kids Can’t Fly.
Tickets are available now. Less Than Jake will take Sonic Boom Six from Manchester and Zebrahead on tour across mainland Europe.
Mouthwash / King Blues on tour
Posted by jamie on Mar 26, 2010
It’s official: Mouthwash have just been confirmed as main support on the King Blues’ new tour. The guys will be join on some of the later dates by new Rebel Alliance label-mates Dirty Revolution.
Sat 10 Apr 2010
Brighton Komedia - Mouthwash
Sun 11 Apr 2010
Norwich The Waterfront - Mouthwash
Mon 12 Apr 2010
Manchester Academy - Mouthwash
Tue 13 Apr 2010
Newcastle Academy 2 - Mouthwash
Thurs 15 Apr 2010
Glasgow Garage - Mouthwash
Sun 25 Apr 2010
Birmingham Academy 2 - Mouthwash
Mon 26 Apr 2010
Exeter Phoenix - Mouthwash
Tue 27 Apr 2010
London Shepherd’s Bush Empire - Mouthwash
Sat 01 May 2010
Nottingham Rock City – Mouthwash and Dirty Rev
Tue 04 May 2010
Colchester Arts Centre - Mouthwash and Dirty Rev
Wed 05 May 2010
Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms - Mouthwash and Dirty Rev
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.
Skints AND Mouthwash dates
Posted by chips on Feb 25, 2010
More Rebel Alliance tour dates. Not like it’s a bad thing, but you do start to wonder when this lot sleep. Hanging upside down from a branch, perhaps.
MOUTHWASH DATES
14 April
Satan’s Hollow
MANCHESTER
15 April
Trillians
NEWCASTLE
16 April
The Underworld
LONDON
25 April
The Fighting Cocks
KINGSTON
THE SKINTS DATES
11 March
Unit
SOUTHAMPTON
13 March
The White Rabbit
PLYMOUTH
14 March
Timepiece
EXETER
18 March
The Star and Garter
MANCHESTER
20 March
The Borderline
LONDON
26 March
Ivy Leaf Bar
SHEERNESS
27 March
The Lounge Bar
ALTON
Rebel Alliance Tour 2010
Posted by jamie on Feb 9, 2010
REBEL ALLIANCE TOUR
The Skints, Chris Murray, Mouthwash, Random Hand
Camden Underworld
30th January 2010
Jamie
At one point, Josh from the Skints stops to thank all of us “for coming out at 18.30 to watch all the bands. No one does that, so thank you for doing that”. He’s also mentioned, though, that “this isn’t our [the Skints'] headline set, you’ve seen four headline sets tonight”.
Like pretty much everything he’s said, this is all greeted with a huge cheer. The Skints are riding the crest of a wave right now and seem pretty much unstoppable, and this, after all, is a London show, so it’s almost to be expected that this dark little oven and its slimy, deliriously happy population would be in thrall throughout.
In saying what he did, though, Josh did have a point, of course. It does take a level of commitment for a whole crowd to be queuing outside and around a venue at that time of the evening. Perhaps it had to do with the size of the four bands on the bill: that comment bout there being “four headline sets” had it pretty much bang on: none of this was to be missed.
In a Rebel Alliance mailout, Sexy Neil “Neil” McMinn had stopped to thank the label’s fans for helping to make the label a real, living entity “and not just a logo we put on the back of SB6 records”. I guess it’s a turnout like this, and the others which have packed other venues up and down the country on this tour, and the commitment to be there for all the bands that gives the clearest evidence of this. That said, the fact that Rebel Alliance can tour without the Sonic Boom Six and pack venues like it has, and that this many bands of this calibre are willing not just to release records on this label but to tour in support of it and of each other, is a huge vote of confidence in what Rebel Alliance has come to stand for in such a short space of time. The Ruff Guide came out on Deck Cheese, remember.
The show, then. If you walk past the World’s End/Underworld on a regular basis, you’ll know that there is ALWAYS a queue of fun looking peeps outside in the afternoon and evening. When you get to be one of them, because it’s not a smelly metal night, it’s extra good fun. I was psyched before we even got in, and we were in early. I don’t just mean early because of the early doors, I do mean our crew were among the first inside. If you’ve just done the RBF/SB6 tour and not seen Adam (their merch guy), he’s on this tour. Rest easy, coastguards.
Random Hand have been chosen to open this show, and they’re on while it’s still filling up. For a short while we’re treated to the slightly surreal sight of the guys playing to a semi-circle of empty space, a line of punks waiting patiently for the opportunity to throw their bodies around in said space just beside it. The way Random Hand play, though, it gets you. Even from opening, it’s difficult, even if you wanted to, to stand still. Hands, feet, then legs and then whole bodies begin to move around. The benefit of hindsight, by the way, says this was about the only time there was room for whole bodies to properly move around at the front. It was more shoulder-to-shoulder smush after that.
By the time Anger Management becomes the band’s third song of the evening, faces are pointing out of the mash of jigging arms and legs, raised just enough to make a wolf-howl face to the “whoah-oh-oh” of the chorus. Random Hand’s dirty, metal-infused skacore is a perfect start to proceedings, and really good show in its own right. They’re a four-piece, if you haven’t seen them: drums, bass, guitar, samples, three vocalists and a trombone. It’s as good as it sounds, and a little bit nastier, and it’s very, very good fun to bounce around to.
Playing first, they pretty much just get on with it: there’s the odd joke abut them being Northerners, and, bizarrely, a request from Robin for everyone to take a step forward. Forward? You’re on the front of the stage, mate. Had we all done it, I’d have been standing on Tilston’s toes and Chips would practically have been backstage. The Underworld’s like that at the best of times and this must have sold out. What a giggle. So, as I said, Random Hand turn up and get on with getting the party started. It’s a set still heavy on Inhale, Exhale material and it still sounds really good. Given that there’s so much excellent and brand new music around at the moment, that says a lot for these songs, but it definitely works and the night has its first bruises. Those who got to move their feet in some actual real-life space on the dance floor did well, and the circle pit around the pillar “an Underworld trademark”, as Robin calls it, is always special, and, by this time in the set, is the only time we can see the floor, which didn’t last long in to Random Hand’s set and was extinct for the rest of the night after that. It did seem an odd move, for a while, to have them opening tonight but they’ve done an excellent job.
Mouthwash are on quickly afterwards. Before that, can I just point out, they’ve been playing Mike TV’s EP on a loop before the show and between the bands. That carries on for most of the night. Anyways, Mouthwash appear pretty quickly, and set about carrying on the show. Again there’s not much chat, a bit about how wonderful all the folk at Rebel Alliance are and a bit about their new merchandise. That’s pretty relevant, actually, because their new stuff has a giant picture of a sausage on a fork, and it looks really cool. Mouthwash’s set is excellent. They’re really popular here and it’s easy to see why: they’re really danceable and great fun to watch. The Underworld’s getting fuller and fuller and all of those bodies are bouncing and swaying around, singing along happily. The first time I saw Mouthwash I was delighted that London had a band like them: a group that actually sound like they’re from the UK and from a city, and set out to put the different range of influences that can come from a city as diverse as London in to a set of underground guitar songs. The songs are big, powerful things, and the riffs and basslines wash over us in waves, the whole room rocking like it’s being picked up and shaken like a tiny duck on the top of a choppy sea.
Since bursting on to the scene as a cheeky clutch of ska-punk oiks, Mouthwash went rather quiet for a bit but are now back, having evolved in to one of the UK’s most interesting bands and favourite live acts. These days they’re really imposing, with a huge stage presence, especially on home turf.
First off, their sound is dark, brooding, ominous, with a really menacing synth strongly evident. It’s probably wise, as it can’t be easy going on after Random Hand. It winds up, though, as more of an easy-going, almost reggae sort of an affair, heavy on sunshine and feel-good stuff, but still with that contemporary, urban, UK feel. Mouthwash go down an absolute treat, and their set is incredibly danceable. I haven’t had a chance to spend too much time with True Stories since its re-release on Rebel Alliance, but you can’t help but move yourself. Just as Ask and It Is Given is perhaps unrepresentatively dirtier than a lot of the songs they’re playing at the moment, so That Girl is surprisingly catchy, almost poppy, and takes full advantage of how many vocalists there are in the band. The gang vocals and harmonies are absolutely lush, and tonight they’re sung out by however many hundred of us are in there. Most of Mouthwash’s songs are between those two extremes, but appear tonight back to back as a good-time singalong as the Underworld gradually turns in to a bit of a Rebel love-in. Swung back and forth in waves after wave of Mouthwash’s grimy riffs and dirty beats, and peppered throughout by those vocals, the vibe at the end of this exactly that: a full on love-in. It’s made us all so happy, and, as the lights come back to the very dim that, in the Underworld, is as close to “on” that they ever get, there’s that stick-on, loonish grin on pretty much every face you can see around you.
Chris Murray is sensational. Another act who’s already headlined the Underworld, supported, in fact, by the Skints, who will play after him tonight, and backed by Jon Doyle on bass and Jamie Kyriakides on drums “and those oh-so-soulful lungs”, he’s also the originator of one-man acoustic ska in its current form. That’s no small deal when you think of how many acts have popped up in the UK playing solo and/or acoustic ska. In another sign of how much love there is for Rebel Alliance in this room, Jon and Jamie are both wearing the new Rebel Alliance label t-shirts. They look really nice, actually. I hadn’t been sure for a while.
Chris is a really affable, charming guy, and, despite his undoubted pedigree as a performer both with King Apparatus and as a solo artist, playing acoustic after the two sets we’ve just seen, bombastic as they were, can’t be easy even if it’s not as daunting for Chris Murray as it could be. Instead, his easy going charm has the room wrapped around his little finger. Chris’s first Rebel Alliance release, Chris Murray and Friends, features new recordings of some of his older songs. When I first watched Chris as a solo artist (in 2003, yeesh) he had a little, home-made looking disc called Six Songs, and the songs Ex-darling, Rocksteady and Heartache are all on that. There are three others, surprise, surprise. All three that I’ve named, though, are on his new record and each gets an outing tonight. Rocksteady, for the geeks, sees Jamie K given a different backing vocal, and it really, really works.
You can see a mile off that all three guys on stage are really enjoying this, and Chris is wearing a dirty great big grin. He just loves playing music, and its contagious. The mood is infectious, and it was great in the first place. It’s just been a great show. Chris Murray is excellent at controlling his crowd and steering the audience participation. Josh from the Skints appears on I Need Water. The crowd vocal is, perhaps, a teensy bit difficult to explain: “if you need help”, Chris advises, “..just follow Josh”. “I need water, I need love”, Josh sings, and the Underworld dutifully pipes up. It’s baking hot, and, shoulder to shoulder, now, we’re bobbing along as a deliriously happy room. Chris’s single Shades of the Same Colour has a video, of which part was shot in the Underworld. When he announces the song, a few voices pip up “I’m in it!”. If you look very closely, you can actually see me. I’m well proud of that, but too shy to tell Chris Murray when he’s right in front of me.
It’s a glorious show once again, Chris Murray holding the room effortlessly, and his songs, so many of them so excellent, just shine on a night like this. It just works. By the time he wraps up with the song Home, the air is full of hands, and choruses returned back to the band by the sea of snugly warm, sweat-shiny faces in front of them. Thinking back to it gives me a heavy sigh. Every time Chris Murray plays live, it’s just wonderful.
And so to the Skints. These guys just get better and better: musically, in concert and on record, have come so far so fast in recent times. Here, playing last at a hometown show on one of the bills to see this year, everything is set for them to come out and rinse this gig. That’s exactly what happens. Before the tour dates were finalised, the Underworld was set anyway for a Skints show. Right now, with the walls of this musty, dimly lit basement glistening with a thin layer of all of our sweat, the floor a carpet of busted plastic cups and the dancefloor and the backstage sort of rail bit where all the celebs like Jamie Jazz are hiding out, all shoulder to shoulder and bobbing even in the half silence (still mainly to the Mike TV CD), the stage, and I mean the metaphorical stage, not so much the actual stage, is set for a mega performance.
In the closed space, the climbing heat and the near dark, the Skints enter stage left and set about turning the whole place in to some sort of pulsating, darkened oven, but one that has basslines. This is incredible. A based heavily on Live.Breathe.Build.Believe, which the band have been playing live for some time, is perfect: a massive, riff-driven, reggae monster that has the whole place jumping as one. To be fair, you’ve no choice but to bounce: all of us are pinched between the people either side of us and the room, in rhythm, is a giant mess of trainers on beer cups. Contemplations of the Modern Rude Boy, Murderer and Culture Vulture are, predictably, gobbled up by a room now deliriously happy. What really takes tonight on to a different planet, though, is the collective gasp of sheer joy that greets the song Bright Girl. As the realisation reaches different people one by one, you can almost feel the room get happier, as if little lights were switching on. Except it’s still dark. It’s as if the whole place was one giant mash of pushing, swaying shoulders and stomping feet, and everyone is singing. Immense. Then, for an extra treat, and you might have seen this before, but tonight, it’s better than ever, the song becomes Inner Circle’s Sweat, met with another roar and its “a la la la la long” refrain bellowed back at the band, who return to Bright Girl, again happily welcomed back.
This show gets better and better, every song, every solo cheered, and the room constantly swaying. I admit, after some guy dressed like N-Dubz wriggled in front of us it got too intense in the very middle, and I watched the rest from the side. It was still packed and still moving out there, as the band glide effortlessly through an excellent set of songs, in which everything is perfect. Eventually, exhausted, it’s all wrapped up to a rapturous response. For a few moments, nobody can actually move and even when there’s a tiny bit of room it takes a while for anyone to take a step in a direction because just about everybody has lost their mates. It’s all been a bit of a love in anyway: at one point Josh points out that the Skints’ first Underworld set was played to six people, all of whom are in the room tonight. You’d be hard pushed to find anyone you know, mind. As the lights get gradually a tiny bit brighter, blinking, sweat soaked bodies stumble around the clearing floor meeting and hugging up to each other. Mostly, to people they arrived with, but a few tongues did get swapped, by the way: it was basically like one giant aphrodisiac, after all.
Shivering, blinking, and impossibly happy, we make our way to various drink and food joints, delighted at what we’ve all just seen. My legs are like a baby Bambi’s, so getting anywhere takes a little longer, and a lot of people are the same. Excellent stuff: one of those nights to end all nights.
Thank you, also, to the folk at Rebel Alliance for keeping a four-band, Saturday night London show to £9 a ticket. That’s proper punk, guys. Respect.
