So,
Thursday first; following the recent untimely demise of Swindon’s finest,
grizzled blue-collar alt-rock combo Raze*Rebuild, this pre-arranged booking for
an acoustic Thursday show at the Tuppenny pub up the Old Town became vacant,
only to be happily backfilled by… R*R mainstays Si and Matt Hall! So I made
plans to go, safe (but disappointed) in the knowledge that my knees will no
longer take a battering at the hands of their banded-up rampant alt-rock.
However, in a typical “wait for one bus then two come at once” moment, fellow local
US indie rock acolytes Abstraction Engine, a band I’ve yet to catch but had
been meaning to for ages, booked a support slot at The Vic, same night! Neither
the Hall boys nor AE’s exemplary frontman David knew in advance as to their set
timings, so I drove up early doors in the vain hope that they wouldn’t clash.
Parked up in the final spot in the car park opposite the Vic, then took a wander in to find AE soundchecking in the back room. Decided not to disturb their work because, well, I’m not a selfish twat and it’s not all about me, so I took a wander to the Tupp, where Si and Matt were setting up (Matt with his new guitar which he’d made on a 6 day course!) but were happy to be disturbed and to confirm their headlining set would kick off at 9.30. Thus armed, I chatted awhile with the boys before heading back down to the Vic, where David and the AE boys were hanging out outside. “Tell me you’re on in ten minutes,” I hopefully inquired, only for David to sadly reply, “nope, we’re on at 9.30!” Bollocks! So, I stuck with the original plan, extended my apologies to a magnanimous band, then ‘twas back to The Tupp to meet up with Stu and find a couple of seats for opener New Bedlam Asylum. This proved to be a pseudonym for Charlie Miles, a young green-haired punk who immediately impressed and entertained with some full-on in-your-face acoustic punk rock ranting, the man sawing furiously at his gaffer-taped up instrument and gabbling 90 to the dozen, all angry, bilious, bucolic and full of angst and self-loathing, but also erudite and actually bloody funny. “Depression Goatee” was not only a suitably angst-ridden opener but a theme he’d continuously return to, in between other numbers encompassing pro-wrestling, veganism, some seriously left-leaning politics (a brilliantly scabrous “Shy Tory” being my favourite number of his set) and a Neutral Milk hotel homage (!). Superb dumb thrashy acoustic punk rock fun on one level, but given the breadth of his referencing (including Jeff Buckley, The Supremes and a host of artists I’d never heard of!), one suspects there’s a very cultured and intelligent mind beneath the punk rock self-loathing exterior. Either way, an impressive performer whom I’d like to catch again, and not only because he referred to me as, “guy who likes Neutral Milk Hotel”!
And
now for something completely different…! Si and Matt were always going to sound
low-key, at least initially, in comparison to young Charlie, both being beyond
their angry shouty punk rock years…! Si sensibly gave props to the crowd (“this
is unexpected - a roomful of people… for now…!”) and the opener (“I can’t do
miserable tonight because Charlie just blew it out of the water! Charlie, this
one’s for you, it’s called “Face For Radio”,” an unexpected faux pas which drew
howls of laughter) as they eased into their stride. A melancholy alt-country
“My Remedy” was an early highlight before “All The Gear”, a full-on knee-killer
in band form, finally saw Si cut loose with the vein-bulging stentorian roar. A
couple of Buzztone numbers embellished the set, albeit allegedly slowed down
considerably from their 200 mph skate-punk versions (!), Si joking about putting
these oldies up on Myspace back in the day (“Myspace? We’ve got a page on
Ceefax!”), then “Kat I’m Sorry” saw a particularly impassioned vocal from Si
and some excellent fretwork from Matt (Si repeatedly commenting on Matt’s
self-made new guitar throughout). A fun cover of “Dancing In The Dark” skewered
the obvious Springsteen comparisons in their music, before closer “Back To The
Fall” was dedicated to me (!) for sticking around and not going to the Vic
instead! A night of contrasting sets then, both notable and entertaining in
their own right.
I
bade farewell to all and sundry, promising to meet up with Si at the
Menzingers’ gig in Bristol the following night; then things all started to go
the way of the pear… Home at 11.30 to find an upset Rach up with Logan, the
pain he’d been having in his legs for a couple of days having intensified. Rach
took him up to A&E, leaving me to toss and turn all night, do Kasey’s
school run the next morning then join her up in an A&E cubicle. After tests
and admission, it was subsequently found to be a temporary viral infection,
thankfully, but as I left at 4 to take Kasey for her swim lesson, they were
still on the ward awaiting blood test results, so it looked as if I’d be needed
to collect them and the intended trip down to Brizzle would be off…
Happily,
the final test results came back OK and they taxi-ed home, and after checking
things were OK, Logan was more comfortable and Rach could definitely cope
without me, the gig was back on…! So, I left just after 6.30, hammering down
the M4 then being held up by an utter dickhead BMW driver on the run into
Bristol city centre, but still parking up, hitting the venue and squeezing down
the front in time (just!) for Spanish Love Songs’ main support set at 7.20. An
added attraction on tonight’s bill, they’d impressed last time out with a noisy,
sweaty and all-hands-together Exchange set, and the crunchingly heavy riffery
of opener “Losers” suggested more of the same tonight. Monolith vocalist Dylan
Slocomb came up for air after a couple of bulldozing numbers, proclaiming,
“Holy shit! Last time out we played the Exchange but I was super sick – this is
more fun!”, before a speedier, strident and robust singalong “Sequels”.
The
humble and self-effacing attitude of Dylan and the band – a feature last time
out – was again to the fore, Dylan commenting, “I never thought we’d be
releasing album No. 3 [today] and playing a room this size!” before completely
filling it with their own brand of massive riffery, heavy and strong-armed
drumbeats, and huge anthemic singalong choruses. Much of the set recalled the
similarly bone-crushing relentlessness of Manchester Orchestra, although the
likes of “The Boy Considers His Haircut” and a superb “Buffalo Buffalo” delved
more into angsty yet gloriously shouty emo-punk territory. Dylan again announced,
“really, this is the coolest thing ever!” before set closer “Beer And Nyquil”
again underlined their inclusive vibe, their connection and empathy with their
audience, with the hooky choral line of, “I want to hold it together” sung back
by the crowd, providing a very fitting and apposite for a killer set. And this
was just the support…!
Grabbed
a breather and ran into Si (as promised), plus recent Gaz support star Ben
Sydes! I knew there was an emo boy in him…! Took a spot house right on the
crowded floor, as “A Praise Chorus” played over the tannoy, eliciting a
singalong to the “crimson and clover” section… Then, 8.30 saw the lights smash
to black and the intro music of “Rebel Rebel” herald The Menzingers onstage.
Straight away they were “on it” with enthusiasm and gusto, the fast-paced
opener of “Anna” ringing out, albeit sounding smoothier, shinier, and even a
tad quieter after the behemoth Spanish Love Songs set…
I’d
been late to the Menzingers party, having joined in for the ironically titled
“After The Party” a couple of years back, which saw a maturing of their ragged
emo punk into a more Gaslight Anthem-lite hooky and polished sound. New album
“Hello Exile”, one of 2019’s finest, continues this journey for me, continuing
the recent lyrical themes of moving from an extended adolescence into “proper”
adulthood, and incorporating elements of Pixies-ish alt-rock, Americana and
even a more countrified feel into their sound. Thus, the early likes of “Anna”
and a soaring singalong “House On Fire” recalled a faster Gin Blossoms, and saw
me plunging into a good-natured mosh – which featured a larger percentage of
girls than I was expecting – and singing along with gusto, just the tonic I
needed after a fraught day.
The boys were certainly having fun onstage, swapping vocal chores between bald, perpetually grinning Brian Bendis lookalike Tom May and his heftier, strong-armed colleague Greg Barnett, however things got increasingly violent in the mosh so I retreated to a supposedly safe distance, only to be followed by a white t-shirted bloke who, no matter how far back I went, seemed to be right in my face! I soon tired of this and swapped over to house left, the clarion call of “Burn After Writing” thankfully snapping me back into the gig. Greg remarked on an early singalong from a punter with, “I love it when that happens – especially when it sounds like a Disney pirate!” Don’t know what he’s insinuating about the Bristolian accent, but anyway… A mad mosh accompanied a tremendous “Telling Lies”, subsequently and thankfully diffused by a melancholy “Last To Know”, then later a punky double of “I Don’t Wanna Be An Asshole” and “Nice Things” preceded some proper old school punk, Tom channelling his inner Joe Strummer for a fine reading of The Clash’s “Death Or Glory”. My final mosh-visit was for their best number, the irresistibly bouncy set closer “Lookers”, by which time I was also on guard for a horde of crowd-surfers – again of both genders!
“Lookers”
was the clear highlight of the night, so I could happily have done without the
encore, then afterwards I held out for the drummer’s list, a helpful roadie
throwing me the screwed-up ball as a prize. So, another night of equally
meritorious yet contrasting sets, the gloss and tunefulness of The Menzingers
contrasting with the seething and bludgeoning power of Spanish Love Songs.
Heck, I liked ‘em both! A quick drive home and a kebab rounded off a fine
evening and this two-in-two. Great stuff from all 4 acts… and, more
importantly, a son who’s now fully on the mend after a brief but scary illness.
That’ll do for me!
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