I
didn't need too much persuading for this one... a trip down to the South Coast
to probably my favourite venue in the splendid Southampton Joiner's Arms, to
see Canadian punk rabble Pkew Pkew Pkew, one of my breakthrough acts of 2019
thanks to a mighty fine album in "Optimal Lifestyles", and a
breathless, euphoric and roof-raising Exchange set last May (gig 1,136) in
support of Spanish Live Songs (ironically support stars themselves, last time
out!). No pretending that just because I'm 54 and the owner of 2 dodgy knees
that I'd behave myself and stand at the back delicately tapping a toe either...
oh no, I know I'm going to lose my shit rocking out as much as my old bones
will allow, so I prepared accordingly, with lenses, shorts, kneestraps and even
pre-gig painkillers all sorted in advance!
Loins
thusly girded, I set off at 7 as Rach was doing a pilates class, then enjoyed a
fairly unencumbered drive down to Southampton and parked up at 8.30 about 10
steps from the Joiners' front door. Result! Sparsely populated - and cold! - in
the hallowed back room early doors, so I popped back to the car to grab my
hoodie, thence running into Pkew's bassist Emmett manning the merch stand. He
remembered meeting me in Bristol, which was cool, and we had a quick chat about
punk rock, The Menzingers and his own band. Popped back into the venue for some
support act action; I'd missed openers Buds but was in place for main support
Abandon Ship at 8.45, along with their young fanclub (!). A young 4-piece
seemingly fronted by Seann Walsh's younger brother (!), they initially kicked
into some fast-paced and heavy riffing post-grunge stuff, including an
impressive "Worlds Apart" which recalled the frantic noise of
Joyrider, before delving into more rhythmic-based and Britpoppy material,
whilst retaining a penchant for a soaring hook and some impressive 3-part
harmony or call-and-response choruses. A couple of later numbers recalled the
urgent snappy pop brightness of The Candyskins (including the undulating
fretwork of "See You Again", which needed a couple of goes as the
hefty, hard-hitting drummer knacked up his kick pedal!), and closer "25
Minutes", with an almost ska/bluebeat verse beat powering up to an
impressive chorus and building outro, climaxed a tidy little set from a band to
watch.
A
quick turnaround was expected, but there was still a fairly sparse turnout for
some Tuesday punk rock in Southampton; still, at least that meant no problem
getting down the front! Pkew Pkew Pkew came on at 9.35 accompanied by purple
light and dry ice, immediately bursting into life with a ragged-arsed romp
through opener "Passed Out", which immediately got me and a couple of
other folks at the front rocking away, and which then segued hurriedly into the
repetitive fist-pumping terrace chant of "Stop Calling Us Chief".
This
was a proper punk rock show tonight; the "handle with care" signs
having long since faded, Pkew Pkew Pkew gave their material a thorough and
rather splendid roughhousing throughout. The sound was a bit muddied and
dominated by guitar glare for me - not sure whether that was because it may
have been set up for a fuller room, or because I largely had my head close to,
or directly in, the onstage monitors! - but Pkew Pkew Pkew's obvious onstage
enthusiasm and dynamism saw them powering through to deliver the type of
ragged-edge "rise above" performance so redolent of the likes of
American Hi-Fi and Raze*Rebuild. The boys happily shuttled between both albums
- the Ramones-like dumbed-down drinking man's surf/skate-punk of their eponymous
debut, and the more "mature" yet still frantic blue collar US alt
rock-tinged material from that "Optimal Lifestyles" album - so a
gleeful singalong "Asshole Pandemic" rubbed shoulders with a more
considered Hold Steady-esque "Polynesian", and a more widescreen,
Springsteen-like "Drinking Days" bookended with a ragged romp through
an unexpected "Let's Order A Pizza" and a fist-pumping "I Wanna
See A Wolf".
"We
don't do encores so we've just got a couple of numbers left," announced
Emmett in a rare up-for-air moment, then "Thirsty And Humble" and the
official knee-killing, moshpit inducing "Mid- 20s Skateboarder"
rounded off a brief yet kinetic 40 minutes. A little short, but probably just
enough for my knees!
Hung
out afterwards until I started to get some feeling back in my joints, before
another chat with a buoyed Emmett, joking their next album might feature a song
about me, entitled "Mid-50s Mosh-pitter"! Then, home for midnight
after an easy drive up the A34. This was excellent fun tonight, a band on the
ragged edge, on the verge of tumbling into chaos but powering through in true
punk rock spirit, with gusto and enthusiasm. Sound not the best, but ultimately
no matter, I was still totally immersed in the gig, rocking out to the
rabble-rousing stylings of Pkew Pkew Pkew - as expected!
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