A
teacher training day meant no school for Logan, so I took the day off work and
we made a day of it, parking in our Kentish Town spot just after 2 p.m. and
hitting Camden for some shopping, splendid Thai/ Chinese street food and an
overall great father/son afternoon out. Hit the deserted venue about 6.30 –
it’s as oddly shaped as I remember! – and wandered through to the main hall to
catch some of openers, Leeds’ inappropriately named Articulate Outburst at 10
to 7. Their hefty Selwyn Froggatt soundalike vocalist led them through a
passable cover of “Blitzkrieg Bop” for starters, their set then unfortunately
degenerating into noisy, one-dimensional oi/street punk, sadly the kind of
inarticulate howl that put me off the genre in the first place, and causing us
to retreat back to our spot in the bar! Still loud from there, their “Is There
Anybody Out There” featured a ramalama repetitive hook and was easily their
best number, before another run-through of “Blitzkrieg Bop” bookended their
set. Nice guys (as we later found out) but sadly not my cup of Upstart...
We
noted that most of the mainly leather-jacketed punker punters arriving were
sporting either Spizz t-shirts or painted Spizz motifs on their leather
jackets; a small but highly dedicated collective here tonight! The man himself then
arrived, greeting all and sundry just before we took another wander in to check
out main support Healthy Junkies. Featuring a Daisy Chainsaw-alike female
vocalist, their opener “This Is Not A Suicide” set the tone for their set with
some Iggy/ CBGBs sleazy and glammy proto punk, quickly followed by the bratty
repetitive hook and effects-pedal led riffery (the guitarist liked his pedals,
of that there was no doubt!) of “I Don’t Give A Damn.” Infinitely more
palatable than the openers, but I wasn’t in the mood for bratty teen defiance
played by a decidedly older band, so we once again retreated to the bar!
Stirred
into action just before ¼ to 9 by noises emanating from the main room, we
wandered back in and took a spot front row, house left, along with a half-full
but dedicated and eager crowd. The band took the stage first, the rhythm
guitarist sporting a cossack hat and Joker make-up and immediately getting in
our faces with a manic laugh; then Spizz theatrically joined us with a
flourish, sporting flashing neon rings and an electronic display belt buckle
playing a lurid green “Spizz Energi” across it (then getting stuck on the “S”
for most of the set. Whoops!), leading us into the call and response “that’s
what I said!” hook of opener “Shallow End”. “Good evening motherfuckers!”
greeted the man; “We’re in Camden… where we live!”
A
hometown gig, a room of devotees; this demanded a stellar performance, and boy,
did we get one! Tonight this Spizz Energi incarnation not only sounded tight
and dynamic, but visually were striking, all-action and kinetic, delivering a
proper performance. And Spizz, as ever, was a total star; posing, pouting
and preening like the proudest of punk rock peacocks (if that’s not too much
“p” alliteration for ya!), his slightly camp “Carry On” ooh-er missus persona
would have been entertaining enough, but when augmented with antics such as
letting off numerous confetti cannons, discarding his flashing rings into the
crowd (Logan happily snagging a couple!), pulling USA and Russia flags out of
his trousers before a brilliantly tough sounding “Soldier Soldier”, and reading
the mood of the room perfectly with a brandished Ukraine flag and a pointed
“Ding Dong, the witch is dead” barb on this, the 9th anniversary of
thatcher’s death (and yes, no typo there… she doesn’t deserve a capital “T”) he
was an utterly riveting presence. You couldn’t take your eyes off him!
The
60’s B Movie car chase of “City Of Eyes” was an early highlight, then Spizz
threatened to, “scare the living daylights out of you happy campers!” with the
sinister metronomic beat of “Here Come The Machines”. The verses for “No Room”
were a little messy and garbled, but the hook was still irresistible and the
middle 8 magnificent, Spizz then ironically quipping, “I forget what’s next,”
before an angular and savage, moshpit inducing “Amnesia”. As previously
mentioned, “Soldier Soldier” sounded brilliantly tough, and a rampant “Virginia
Plain” was given 3 finishes as Spizz chastised the crowd for not singing the
hook loudly enough! However, the highlight was to still to come, of course… Following
the call and response of “Clocks Are Big” (“machines are heavy!”), they
careered headlong into a frankly astonishing “Where’s Captain Kirk?”, the
sci-fi punk classic sounding as fresh as ever, the chanted hook raising the
roof. Wow. A quieter, almost ballad-like “Denmark Street” calmed things, before
a couple of covers – a faithful, metronomic “The Model” and rambunctious,
rabble-rousing “I Fought The Law” ended a supremely entertaining set. Utterly superb!
Then,
just to augment a brilliant night (and thanks to a kindly steward), we barged
our way backstage, meeting the bands and having our pix taken with the friendly
but utterly crazy Spizz Energi guys. A wander back to the car and a difficult
drive home through a sodden capital and 2 sets of M4 closures (bah!) then saw
us home at a red-eyed 20 to 1. Yipe! But no matter. This was a gig – and
overall, a day out – for the ages, a brilliant boy’s night out thanks to the
mesmerising mutant punk rock madness of Spizz Energi!
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