Promoter - Stephen Harland / Down By The Jetty Promotions.
A busy day and the need for a curry meant we didn’t arrive
at the Westgarth until after Andy X and The Amazing Spacefrogs had been and gone
and No Way had just one song left to play.
Great to see The Filth again. Old school punk rock full of
anger and passion The Filth are regulars on the Teesside gig circuit and have a
loyal following. There’s a decent number of punters showing their appreciation
down the front – always good to see. ‘Revolution.Com’, ‘Punks & Skins’,
‘Rise Of The Mods’. Cracking tunes delivered with a real energy and attitude
that’s no doubt as relevant nowadays as it was 38 years ago.
I’d been looking
forward to seeing The Drones tonight so was a little pissed off when, a couple
of weeks ago, it was announced they wouldn’t be playing. But then more than
happy when Klammer were announced as their replacement. ‘Post punk, dark pop’
from Leeds their two albums, 2013’s AUSLANE
and 2016’s KLAMMER have been
regulars on my recent playlists. Live they’re everything I’d hoped they’d be.
Deep, chest rumbling bass lines and thumping drums overlaid with edgy,
atmospheric, room filling guitar riffs. ‘Reciprocate’, ‘Power Of N’, ‘High
Life’, ‘Caught In The Act’ bring together the best post punk bands and mould
them together into the unique sound of Klammer. You don’t need to strain your
ears too much to hear bits of Magazine, Banshees, Ruts, Cure, Sisters Of Mercy.
Dark, deep, brooding vocals from Paul Strickland top everything off. ‘Heavy
Weather’ hits us with unrelenting thrashy guitars, far more punk than post punk
while recent single ‘Everything Depends On The King’ powers along with a deep
bass rhythm and subtle guitar twangs before erupting into a high octane chorus.
Just two songs from 1st album AUSLANE
– ‘Somewhere New’ digs under your skin with its infectious bass while ‘Star In
The City’ is pure Joy Division. A smattering of new songs – ‘Production’,
‘Gullfoss’ and ‘Magpie’ leave us looking forward to album no.3 which hopefully
won’t be too long coming.
Klammer also have the honour
of being the 100th band I’ve seen in 2017.
Klammer are back in Middlesbrough,
again at The Westgarth, on December 9th with The Filthy Tongues. Two
brilliant bands. Well worth a trip out. Details here.
999 never disappoint.
Whenever and wherever they play you know you’re going to have a good time. This
is punk rock with a decent tune. Drum and bass beats that hook you right in and
get your heart beating just a bit quicker and your feet moving just a bit
faster. Topped off with those subtle but important and distinctly 999 guitar
riffs from Guy Days and the unmistakeable vocals from Nick Cash all at top
volume it’s an addictive combination. The set spans their recorded career.
Early classics ‘Nasty Nasty’, ‘Hit Me’, ‘Titanic(My Over) Reaction’, ‘Emergency’
from 1977/1978 through to ‘Last Breath’ with it’s hard, serious lyrics yet
superbly catchy chorus from 2007’s Death
In Soho. Along the way all the
classics are played – ‘Boys In The Gang’, ‘The Biggest Prize In Sport’, ‘Little
Red Riding Hood’, ‘Feelin’ Alright With The Crew’ with its superb guitar intro.
It’s aggressive, it’s tuneful, sometimes it’s almost poppy punk albeit without
pop lyrics (‘Boys In The Gang’, ‘Little Red Riding Hood’), sometimes it’s full
on, in your face, noisy, 100mph punk – (‘I’m Alive’, ‘Nasty Nasty’). Whatever
it is it’s all top class from a group who have probably had the most stable
line-up of all the punk bands from back then. Three original members (although
sadly drummer Pablo Labritain can’t play tonight because of health problems. Lurkers
drummer Stuart Meadows fills in superbly) together with Arturo Bassick on bass
whose been with them for 27 years. It’s no wonder their sound is tight. Final
song ‘Homicide’ is greeted with a mini stage invasion and singalong. Great
stuff.
It’s a sizeable and
really appreciative crowd tonight with non-stop thrashing about at the front. One
small, bloody incident involving a slip on some spilt beer, a head hitting the
floor and a nasty cut was the only negative. Thankfully he seemed OK by the end
of the gig.
It’s hot, it’s sweaty,
it’s loud, it’s fast, it’s jump around tunes. It’s a great gig.
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