Saturday, May 02, 2009

Die!Die!Die! / Sabotage Left / Vinny and the Curse / Black Heart Generator @ The Rainbow, Friday 1st May


It’s an historic moment. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the 300th Hearing Aid posting. Whoohoo! Cue the party poppers, dancing girls (and boys…but boys aren’t very good at that sort of thing…unless you count Har Mar Superstar…and John Sargent) and telegramme from the Queen (gawd bless you m’am). Bring on the 4 page feature in NME and an interview with that really annoying woman from The One Show. How about an OBE for services to the music industry too? What’s that? You want me to shut the fuck up and get on with it ‘cos you’ve got better things to do? Oh. Okay.

First up Black Heart Generator. I missed the opening part of their set because the dog ate my homework. Actually I don’t have a dog and I haven’t done homework for a good twenty years or so (oh alright then...ever), but what the hell. On closer inspection I recognised the lead singer of BHG…it’s none other than that Greg chappie out of She’s a Kamikaze Machine…and Theatre of The Absurd (and Die. Die. Die by the end of the night...). I’m half expecting him to join Poppy and the Jezebels any day now. Whilst you can’t guarantee that, you can be sure that (whatever his current nom de plume…yes I’m quite aware that this isn’t the right context for this phrase) he’ll deliver an impassioned, vitriolic and rather pissed off performance that warms the cockles of my very own bitter, blackened heart. Musically it’s loud and punky…like a loud punk who's had too much to drink (can you ever have too much to drink?). I’m so good at this n’est ce pas?

Next up, Vinny and the Curse. I’m not sure what kind of curse. Only time will tell. Maybe I’ll grow giant man boobs and start speaking in tongues…whoops too late, nature's already got there Vinny (actually I have a chest of steel, this is all for comedic purposes). I rather liked their take on 60's garage with a shaving of rockabilly. One guy on geetar and a microphone made from an old telephone, another on a bloody big drum and cymbal type set up, they played a Coldrice-tastic show (Frankenstein in particular hit the spot) that set what’s left of my loins on fire. I’ve not been to a Coldrice do for ages, but was a sort of regular at their legendary Bar Academy nights back in the day. Lady B informed me that one of the blokes from V and the C was / is in one of the Coldrice house bands The Big Bang. That’s a Coldrice fact. Tell your friends and they’ll think you’re dead cool. Full marks to the band for playing one of the most obscure cover versions ever (by a band who ‘only ever released one single in 1968’)…it might not be the kind of crowd pleaser that you’d get if you played Robbie’s Angels, but that’s probably a very, very good thing.
Third on the bill, Sabotage Left. Another polished performance from the Sabs, who used tonight’s gig to unveil a clutch of new songs. Rocky but with winningly catchy tunes, they've got a touch of At The Drive-in (RIP) and would slay a crowd at a big arena show. They certainly slayed my ears, but that's what you get for standing right next to the speakers. Foolish Baron. Sleeping Nicotene was the pick of their tracks tonight...cop a listen to it on their MySpace pagey.

Finally, Die. Die. Die. Not as loud and thrashy as some of their gigs (the last time I saw them the lead singer hit me in the face…accidentally I hasten to add…at least I think so….), but still a powerful whirlwind of anger, pain and SCREAMING! Agggggghhhhh!!! The Die’s have been putting on shows like this for a fair few years…I saw them at The Great Escape in a pub in 2007…and here they are in a pub in 2009. Like many bands they deserve better but you’re never going to convince the masses to subject themselves to their particular brand of melodic quiet loud...bloody loud...quiet...agggggh shouty drummy punk. I kind of get the feeling that the band don’t really care. ‘Are we boring the fuck out of you yet?’ enquired the lead Die during the gig. Nope. Not me.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ello 'is lordship, hope ya don't mind the shamelessness of the comment, but we've gone n put some tunage on the myspazz if you or anyone else fancies a listen, follow the link in the review, or www.myspace.com/blackheartgenerator

The Baron said...

Gawd bless yer. My blog is your blog...mi bloggo su bloggu...or somesuch.