Caught in the Crossfire

Electric Eel Shock
Astoria
09 November 2005

I’ve never seen this venue so full. The night kicks off with an explosive 3-piece Electric Eel Shock, who take no prisoners. These little Japanese guys have the biggest, hardest sound. Think Metallica cross Led Zeppelin. Complete Rock ‘n Roll in the most classic sense~even though they are classified as Garage-Metal. Combined with a fantastic stage performance and a healthy balance of nudity, they played a mental show I would definitely sign up for again. Big hair, big personalities and a healthy dose of originality make them a performance not easily forgotten.

Bloodhound Gang! They start off with some favourites, new tracks from their 2005 ‘Hefty Fine‘ release and, some old classics from ‘Hooray for Boobies‘. And yes, some of the Tesco Essex girls (I never said it-they did!) in the crowd took that quite literally! Every word was sung like it was a mantra. They threw in ‘The ballad of Chasey Lain‘, ‘Along comes Mary‘ and, ‘Hell yeah‘-enough reminiscence to make you feel 16 all over again. Their new album may not be a musical wonder, but their humor and stage antics definitely make it an entertaining show. Jimmy Pop seems to have followed in Steve O’s steps and done course at circus school. It must have been all that time off between their last album release in 2002!

It was all above the belt until Jimmy Pop and Evil Jarred Hasselhoff started spitting in each others mouths. The challenge got so out of hand that the crowd started spitting at bassist until it was dripping off his face. Juicy…no really, there was spit and shoes everywhere! It was a few steps away from a GWAR gig! When that got tired Evil J downed a bottle of Jagermeister, between the well-rehearsed VIP fuck you guys banter. About 30minutes later he puked it all up over Jimmy Pop. It was like watching Jackass and South Park live, while playing instruments to a really bad backing track! Apparently that’s what they do all the time. Its fast becoming a BG trade mark-projectile puking! Their encore was great! They attached drum helmets to their heads, and let their drummer rip into ‘You look pretty when Im drunk’!

Their new album is cheesier, and has a vast amount of dick ‘n’ fart jokes! Their 2005 claim to fame would be Bam Margera’s guest appearance in the music video for ‘Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo‘ ~obviously in true BG style that spells FUCK. That and their petition to get their new track “Pennsylvania” to become the new Keystone State’s anthem! (*see their website for more details-http://www.bloodhoundgang.com) They are definitely worthwhile seeing live. The music becomes secondary to their infantile humor, but heck if the shoe fits… This band is bigger than their music, and hopefully they get roped into a few MTV shows or 2.

Niki Kova’cs

The Automatic
Barfly London
Wed 9th November 2005

So this is where the music industry hang out on a Wednesday night then. Thankfully this show brought out the crème rather than the riff raff, I must have been at the right show after all. Newly signed Welsh act The Automatic had just finished a tour with Hard-Fi which is probably a good starting point to explain influences and sound. This 4 piece have a set full of indie pop with strange lyrics about monsters and rats which slightly confuses me to be honest as a few of the lyrics in this set could be picked straight out of a Super Furry Animals record.

The debut single Recover out this month was left until last as the stand out track in this set and overall their disco indie style fits this latest fashionable craze of danceable guitar music….but will it have the edge to take them further than here, we will wait and see as this is early days for a band that could possibly turn ears in the future.

Humanzi are on the flip side tonight. After hearing their debut single explode across underground radio shows across the UK recently it was always going to be interesting to see if they could pull it off live but they did better than that, they killed it leaving the support bands in the dark. One of the support bands were heard saying “we should just give up now” and although I missed the first 2 bands you would have to get up pretty early in the morning to get one over on this set.

Their energy was like a bolt of instant electricity with the constant thud of beats from drummer Brian Gallagher mixed with an immediate rush of cool from the rest of the band. The combination of driving bass lines, intrinsic guitar thrills and vocalist Shaun Mulrooney’s juggling skills as he strums his fender, cracks at the keyboard and manages to sing with a snarl is something not to miss. Mix the grinding surge of Primal Scream with the Czech influence of Sunshine and you have an idea of the style of play here which is danceable rock and roll at its best. The single Fix the Cracks out on Fiction this month was the stand out track but that’s only because it’s the only track people have had the pleasure to hear, but by the time festival season kick starts again next year, that track may well become an anthem alongside a few others that were played here tonight. Humanzi were spitting from the off and although one of their record company bods pointed out after the show that this was not their best show to date, it makes you wonder what they are capable of on a good night. Expect good things to come.

Zac

Bullet Union & Comanechi
Cargo, London
31.10.05

It feels like ever since The White Stripes introduced the concept of two-piece rock bands to the world they’ve been coming out of the woodwork with alarming regularity. Death From Above 1979, Winnebago Deal, Lightning Bolt, Grabba Grabba Tape and now Comanechi have all stripped down rock to it’s brittle bare bones, removing any fat and blubber and going right to the core of the music. And while this approach undoubtedly throws new style and sounds into the basic rock formula, you can’t help sometimes thing ‘where’s your mates? Couldn’t you find enough people to form a complete band?’ Take Comanechi for instance. There’s no doubting the fact that they would benefit from having a bass player to pin down their sloppy, flaying noise rock. Tonight they are loud and abrasive and wild but they could be so much better.

In direct contrast, Bullet Union are a tightly sprung coil of energy that instantly explodes across the stage on impact, taking their love of Dischord post-hardcore and San Diego based Hot Snakes/Drive Like Jehu guitar noise and moulding it into something that is very much their own. Tonight they are better than they have ever been. Maybe it’s the fact that they’ve already played one gig earlier tonight and they are still buzzing from the adrenalin but they play with such power and passion that thoughts like ‘this is the best band in London‘ keep flashing through your mind. Right now Bullet Union are on a mission to play as many gigs as possible so expect them to arrive in a town near you soon and don’t miss them.

It’s Halloween tonight and the ghouls are out in force to subject themselves to the horrifying noise that is Part Chimp. They arrive onstage in-front of a screen that pumps out blood and guts images from ‘The Evil Dead’ and the like and proceed to unleash tidal waves of crushing noise that have the less masochistic members of the audience cowering at the back with their fingers in their ears. However, it’s very easy to just focus on how loud Part Chimp are when actually, buried underneath the dense, thick slabs of sound are almost hidden, part whispered melodies and guitar harmonics that show depth and variety in the music that others might miss. Take forthcoming single ‘New Cross‘ for example; while the abrasive volume may stop it bothering the charts and you’re not likely to see Part Chimp on Top Of The Pops just yet, it does hold a killer melodic hook that works against the swirls of noise nicely. And that’s Part Chimp all over. Scratch beyond the surface and you’ll be surprised what you may find.

James Sherry

London Scala
18/10/05

It’ll be a shock – and possibly even a crime – if Danish groove-masters Hatesphere aren’t headlining venues of this size themselves come October 2006. Despite the venue’s sound system having what can only be described as an epileptic fit on crack, the hard hitting quintet waste no time in inflicting whiplash upon the masses with their own unique brand of fist-pumping metal magic; with the likes of ‘The Sickness Within’ and tooth-shattering ‘Murderous Intent’ leaving no spine in tact.

Soilwork may have enjoyed what some consider moderate commercial success in recent times, but there appears to be little evidence that they’re a band keen to escape their past as a result. While curtain-raiser ‘Stabbing The Drama’ provokes scenes of limb-flailing hysteria from the jubilant pit faithful, set staples ‘Figure Number Five’ and ‘The Flameout’ are promptly offered and gratefully received by all; with even the relentless ‘My Need’ from 1998’s ‘Steel Bath Suicide’ debut propping up the set for the somewhat scarce yet well-voiced elitists in attendance.

The gods may not have been smiling on a frankly shocking mix desk this evening, but with an hour-long performance that leaves few grumbling and even fewer standing still, the Swedish sextet ensure that almost everybody leaves doing just that.

3/5
Ryan Bird