It’s probably the last place you expect to see Gallows play live but maybe the film was too good not to play it or the money was too good to turn down. On the evidence of this set up, the film company had money to burn on this release (as it was lavish to say the least) and Gallows had some cobwebs to blow out, that’s for sure.
On entrance to the SE1 Club, the surrounding arches were kitted out in graffiti art, smashed cars were dumped at the entrance and acted scenes of violent mugging took place. On the inside, the venue was kitted out with a makeshift diner, rockabilly band and girls serving burgers on roller skates and sweet lighting. There was also a peep show room with those Fuel Girls getting busy wetting the critics appetite with the usual seedy malarkey and TV sets were plastered everywhere. We caught Creme pro skater Rodney Clarke sneaking out of there too – he was hired to skate for the night. What a situation.
Laurent and Stu from Gallows had capitalised on the free booze all afternoon and came out of the blocks with intent. Opening track ‘London is the Reason‘ hit the crowd who had just walked out of the premiere and the place and the sheer wall of energy struck them smack in the face. Chaos erupted as soon as bloodied vocalist Frank Carter jumped into the pit and of course, one unlucky punter was ejected for attacking the band – standard issue with these punks. The bouncers jumped in and lined up in front of Frank, of course he intimidated them but even by his standards they were pretty monstrous and the show went on without the usual stand off. The set continued, on the floor in fact, leaving bass player Stu Gili Ross and Lee Barratt drumming on stage. Guitarist Stef Carter held it together whilst Laurent Barnard chucked himself on top of people like a scarecrow through the ravenous ‘Leeches‘ and the sing-along gnar of ‘I Dread The Night‘. It was all at mach 10 and anything could have happened. It was one of those nights.
Popcorn is flying everywhere, the mess is massive, people are pushing and shoving until the final track, Crucifucks lifted from the forthcoming 2nd album Grey Britain is shoved down people’s throats. Blood, sweat and tears mix into a dried up paste on the floor, I had a burger thrown at my head. Gallows blew out their cobwebs and made sure they caused as much trouble as they could. It may have been out of tune and totally fucked but we are glad they are back! Oh and the film is supposed be a corker but we totally missed it. Watch the trailer and go see it!
