An
even dozen for Frank with this one, but one which was a little while in coming…
after Frank’s post-Covid lockdown “Gathering” double hander tour with Sleeping
Soul cohort Matt Nasir, which we caught last August in Frome (gig 1,186), I
fully expected him to burst immediately back into full-on “always on tour”
mode. However, a Spring 2022 UK tour promoting new, harder-edged and more
personal album “FTHC” was inexplicably canned after we got tix – all dates cancelled,
not postponed – so I took a bath on 3 sets of additional fees. Bah! I therefore
havered a little before getting tix for this Autumn tour (I hesitate to say
“rearranged”, because of the cancellation), but Logan’s usual enthusiasm for
seeing one of his gig regulars swayed me. I figure, though, after having to
book and rebook, Frank owes me one…
An
early start for this one too – 6 p.m.! – so I picked Logan up after his history
club at 4.30, figuring that’d be enough time… wrong, as it happened, as we left
the M4 at 5.30 then took 40 minutes to crawl into Bristol. Bah! So on our
arrival the front row barriers were already taken, but we got a decent spot
second row, house right. Clearly this sell-out gig was taking more time to fill
than last week’s… We also didn’t have long to wait for another iteration of
Frank’s vaguely idiosyncratic supports; the man himself took the stage at 6.30
to introduce Mash P, a young man whom Frank had met in Sierra Leone whilst he
was living on the streets, but wanting to make music. The young camo-clad high
kicking Mash was clearly buoyed to perform his street rap, over a calypso tinged
heavy dub baking track, but whilst I admired his enthusiasm and was psyched for
his music being the way out of his previous parlous state, I’m never a fan of
backing tracks in any genre… However, I enjoyed his closer, “Me I Wanna Know”,
an old fashioned protest song with acoustic backup from a 2-piece band, who
turned out to be next support, Truckstop Honeymoon! This veteran husband and
wife duo then played some dusty ramshackle US country numbers on stand-up
double bass and banjo, which mainly sounded like the soundtrack to “The
Beverley Hillbillies”! Again, musically not for me (call my musical tastes
narrow if you will, you wouldn’t be the first!), although I liked the
wild-haired Milton Jones lookalike vocalist’s stories about raising kids in industrial
New Orleans (“if you deprive your kids of all forms of electronic stimulation,
they will find coal quite fascinating!”), and his reference to his 3 daughters
being in the room (“picking your pockets – it’s a family business!”). Also,
both they and Mash were still a whole lot better than (gig 924’s terrible
support) Koo Koo Kanga Roo…!
Thankfully,
we had Pet Needs next; on at 7.45, this young 4 piece (whom I’d casually and
very incorrectly dismissed as “frantic acoustic folky skiffle” after a couple
of minutes of their “Gathering” support slot in Frome last year, gig 1,186)
burst on with a jumpy emo-punk opener which initially recalled last week’s
Menzingers support Joyce Manor, apart from it actually sounding completed…!
However, their fast and frantic (got that right, at least…) material then took
an old school proto punk twist, with “Tracey Emin’s Bed” recalling The Shapes’
1979 “Batman At The Launderette”, no less! Subsequent numbers walked this
tightrope between fairly standard, if bright and vibrant, emo pop-punk and
rawer ramshackle old school punk riffery, with “As The Spin Cycle Spins” a fun
thrashy number about a washing machine, and “Ibiza In Winter” a singalong punk
rant. Throughout, the energy and movement onstage was impressive, particularly
the mic-stand juggling vocalist, and I liked his reaction to the audience’s
cheers following his preamble about the band handing in their collective
notices and going full-time; “you handled that news better than my parents!”.
Young, enthusiastic and brash, this was a splendid support slot from a
promising rabble.
Grabbed
a drink for Logan as our space suddenly got smaller in anticipation of Frank’s
arrival! Straight onstage at 9 to a cacophonous noise, he and the Souls immediately
launched into a rampaging “Four Simple Words” which was an apposite agenda
setter for this set – like last week’s Menzingers performance, this was a
full-on “punk rock show” from the outset, full of energy, venom and righteous
fury. “It’s been 3, maybe even 4 years since our last show [here]; we’ve got
some shit to make up!” declared Frank midway through an early “Photosynthesis”,
before laying down the usual ground-rules (community, look after each other,
participation, don’t be a dick), then asking for a circle pit… feigning disappointment
with the size of said pit, he fired up the mosh massive with, “c’mon, that’s a Swindon
circle!”
Frank appearing to wave to my friend, the prodigiously talented photo artist Martin Thompson...
At
this point I lost my 15 year old son, straight into the pit where he stayed for
the rest of the gig! Hashtag myworkhereisdone (again)… Frank then introduced a
savage, venomous “1933” with [I’m] pissed off that I [even] have to sing an
anti-fascist song in 2022!” (us too, Frank, us too…), before then introducing
the band, including new drummer and Swindon native Callum Green, Frank
countering the inevitable boos with, “I like Swindon! I’ve had some good gigs
there!” Hooray! The subsequent, excellent “Untainted Love” was also preceded
with a story from the voluble Frank about Johnny Cash dining with Bono, then
uttering the line which Frank co-opted for this song; “I sure do miss drugs!”
Frank
and the Souls were totally on fire tonight, and Frank was as fine a raconteur
as singer as well! “One Foot Before The Other” was stunningly dark, dramatic
and hard-edged, before Frank headed into his acoustic interlude via a touching
“Miranda” (preceded by a lovely exposition about how his relationship with his
father has improved since she came out as transgender), a rousing singalong
double of “If Ever I Stray” and “Next Storm”, and “Wave Across A Bay”, another
touching number, this time about his friend, the late Scott Hutchinson. Said
solo break was however probably my highlight; “There She Is”, dedicated to his
wife Jess, whose birthday was today (!), then a sharp change of tack with a
vitriolic “Thatcher Fucked The Kids”, and a pointed political preamble before a
haunting “Be More Kind”, including the comment, “[we now have] a fresh bunch of
dickheads that literally no-one voted for!” The band then returned for a swaggering
and slightly Hold Steady-esque “The Gathering” and slow-burn “Polaroid Picture”
before a powerful, fist-pumping “Get Better” ended a set chock full of utter
bangers.
A
four song encore, rounded off with a roof-raising singalong to “I Still
Believe” and Frank’s profuse thanks for our attendance, took us up to 2 hours.
Wow! Logan emerged surprisingly unscathed from the pit and we both grabbed
fairly easy lists, running into friends Kieron and Jo on our way out. I then
noticed, despite having only gently (for me) jigged around at the periphery of
the hectic mosh, that I ached to utter buggery and my knee had seized up, so
t’was a slow and painful egress and careful drive home via the kebab van for a
couple of hungry boys, reflecting on a brilliant, notably harder-edged show
from Frank and the Souls. Well, Mr. Turner, you said you had some shit to make
up; consider any debt fully repaid!
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