The second gig to be promoted by
Lunar Tricks at Moby Grape Basement Club in Stockton
features Swears, The Black Lagoons and The Likkor Men.
Swears walk on stage, spend a couple of minutes fine tuning
their gear before launching into what turns out to be one of my favourite
opening sets of 2017. Full on, in your face indie punk. Strong lyrics from Joel
Clayton who sounds not unlike a ferocious Paul McLoone (vocalist with The
Undertones). But while The Undertones play perfect pop punk Swears hit you with
a sound that’s altogether noisier, angrier and faster yet still hooks you in
with its infectious beat. Their own description “screeching guitars, doom-laden
beats and reverb drenched vocals” is perfect but it’s brilliantly catchy. ‘Space
Invader’, ‘Devil Finger’, ‘Faith In The Nation’ ‘Righteous’, ‘Lame Wizard’ and
more – frantic guitars, deep bass and those beats make sure your mind doesn’t
wander. And throughout it all lead guitarist George Louca picks out piercing
sounds while barely stopping for breath, bassist Craig Hughes completely is lost
in the moment whilst drummer Stephanos Louca holds it all together at the back.
Hard to believe this was only their fifth gig.
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| Swears |
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| Swears |
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| Swears |
The Black Lagoons deliver the second superb set of the
night. A young band from York they pack a punch as if they’ve been doing this
for years. Garage rock with a heavy psychobilly / punk influence they deliver loud,
heavy tunes that veer between the thumping bass driven drone of ‘The Creature’
to the manic, high velocity, machine gun guitar licks of ‘I Am Your Guest’.
Ferocious, unrelenting, fuzzy, head filling tunes. It was worth the admission
price tonight to hear ‘Jumping Joe’. They look good too. Stylish and confident
with great stage presence the seven songs played tonight can only help their
fan base grow.
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| The Black Lagoons |
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| The Black Lagoons |
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| The Black Lagoons |
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| The Black Lagoons |
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| The Black Lagoons |
A quick tune up and then The Likkor Men slam my ears out. I’m
wearing decent quality ear plugs but f*** me this is still brutally loud. And
mad. And dark. And grungy. And brilliant. The Likkor Men play full rock ‘n’
roll with a hint of some dirty blues thrown in. It’s as raw as the very early
Stooges work. Slashing guitars, heavy bass, thumping drums, repetitive riffs.
Singer Man Product certainly has that early Iggy voice as he screeches and
chants vocals over a throbbing background noise. Indeed they knock out a superb
cover of ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’ towards the end of the night. Addictively mesmerising.
Your brain and your ears tell you the sensible thing to do would be to move
somewhere quieter. Your heart and your feet tell you to stay right where you
are and see this out to the end. The noise really does pummel your whole being.
But it’s a noise with tunes. ‘She Knows’ – almost 6 minutes of pounding rhythms
that repeat and repeat whilst the overlying guitar riff drives straight into
your head and stays right there. The crowd dwindles a little
- I later find out that despite really liking
The Likkor Men some left as it was just too loud. The Likkor Men really
don’t care, continuing to hammer home their songs to those dedicated enough to
stay. I’m convinced the energy and dedication to their cause would have
continued if I’d been the only one left. Thankfully I wasn’t and those that
stayed witnessed something special. A Likkor Men gig. Tonight they were
promoting the release of new EP ‘’There Will Be Blood” (
available here.
) and all four of it’s tracks are
played. ‘Sweet Talking Mamma’, ‘Young Blood’, ‘Hunter’ and ‘Black Widow’. Industrial
grunge, feedback laden rock ‘n’ roll. Great stuff.
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| The Likkor Men |
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| The Likkor Men |
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| The Likkor Men |
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| The Likkor Men |
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| The Likkor Men |
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| The Likkor Men |
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| The Likkor Men | |
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