“We are three brothers on a quest to save the world
from false rock”. So reads the rather bold claim on Radkey’s Twitter page.
Hell, it's not just 'false rock' that the world needs saving from these days so
let’s hope they deliver eh?
First up Lyger, which is a half tiger and half lion isn’t it? I like the idea
of cross breeding shit, I’ve always thought a giraffe kangaroo mash up would be
fun (a girafferoo perhaps), although no doubt the Danes would swiftly hack it
to death...if they could catch it of course. Anyway Lyger the band is a London
three piece who - rather remarkably considering how tight they were tonight - played
their first live show just three short months ago.
Their QOTSA / Foo
Fighters-ish debut single Stroke is a pretty fine calling card for their sound,
that of heads down fuzz rock with its eyes on arenadom. Elsewhere there’s a
touch of Pumpkins’ style nihilistic grunge that should go down a storm with
depressed teens...and middle aged men everywhere. That’ll be me then.
Promising.
Next up Turbogeist. Okay let’s get this out of the
way first...even if addressing the subject might annoy the bejesus out of
them...their lead singer Jimmy is none other than Mick Jagger’s son. Aside from
a vague physical similarity that’s pretty much where the link ends. Turbogeist have
been variously labelled as ‘thrash rock’, ‘punk rock’ and ‘grunge garage’,
quite what Jagger Snr makes of it all hasn’t yet been reported. It was great to
see Jagger Jnr up front dancing like a demon during Lyger’s set though and full
marks for the Scando/Germanic accent he put on during the introduction to his
own band’s opening number. Clearly this ain’t a vanity project and Jagger’s not
even the star of the show...actually that accolade probably goes to the drummer
who during the course of the set managed to almost poke out one of his own eyes,
totally destroy a set of drum sticks and then eat the remaining shards of wood.
Now that’s rock ‘n’ roll. Bloody good he was too. Truly great rock drummers are
all too rare, this dude’s priceless. Jagger shares vocal duties with a bloke
who bears a passing resemblance to Keef back in the day. Purely coincidental I’m
sure. Ahem. Of course they sound as much like The Stones as One Direction
sounds like Iggy and the Stooges. Musically there’s a touch of Sham 69, Angelic
Upstarts and Cockney Rejects in there, albeit with a little bit more of a glam
edge best heard on recent single Alien Girl. “Thanks for coming out on a Monday
night, I know ‘ow ‘ard it is” acknowledged Jagger. Somehow knowing his old man’s
notorious caution with cash you sort of believe him.
Set highlight and single
Mermaid’s Revenge is perhaps their most inventive moment to date, managing as
it does to mash together sea shanty, screamcore, emo and heavy rock. A neat
trick if you can pull it off...and they do. A suitably raucous cover of The
Wipers’ Up Front no doubt bought a tear or two to some of the older crowd. Okay,
so his old man may roll but JJ and co rock.
When the Radke brothers (hence the band’s name
Radkey I guess) were born in the mid to late 90s (yep, the youngest member’s
only 16 or so...good grief I have boxer shorts older than that) the various
groups that clearly influence them (MC5, Stooges, Motorhead) were already well
into their third or fourth decade of fame. Of course to the band all this shit
still sounds new and fresh, bless ‘em, hence one of the most joyful and
energetic performances I’ve seen for some time. Kicking off (and that’s a
pretty apt description) with Out Here In My Head...a ferocious 100mph blast of
primal punk...the band starts the show the way most groups would finish, giving
it everything they’ve got. Like a man possessed Isaiah spends most of the show
wrestling with his instrument (steady ladies), a twisting, jerking blur of bass
whilst brother Dee alternates between a surprisingly deep vocal and some truly larynx
shredding screams. Dee can play a mean guitar too. Perhaps contrary to the punk
ethos there are some complex riffs in there and if the odd homage
to Hendrix creeps in to some of his stage moves it’s not entirely unjustified. This kid
is how old? 17? 18? Hmmmm...imagine what he’ll be like in his mid 20s. At the
back drummer Solomon somehow keeps pace with the mayhem seemingly without
breaking into a sweat. Oh what it is to be young.
In common with many gigs it took a tune or two to
coax some of the crowd right to the front but the band’s got an answer to that
via their track Come A Little Closer with its ‘Na na na na na” vocal hook
drawing in the stragglers. It doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to see
this stuff going down a storm during the festivals. “This track’s called Pretty
Things” explained Isaiah “Got flashed in Kansas before playing this song...first
pair of boobies I eva saw”. Who says rock ‘n’ roll doesn’t pay anymore eh?
The goth punk of Feed My Brain gave way to one of
the band’s crowning glories to date, Start Freaking Out, three minutes of frantic full
on mayhem designed purely to get you to bang your head clean off its
shoulders. One bloke did just that. It’s probably still lying there under the
stage right now.
It came a close second to Romance Dawn though, a deceptively
simple but actually bloody smart punk blues number that’s insanely addictive. Face
to face and almost on their knees Dee and Isaiah trade licks as the
crowd at the front go suitably mental. With no stage door to exit from the band
hides behind speaker stacks and drums as calls for an encore build. This they
duly repay with an explosive cover of another of their inspirations Misfits’
Last Caress. A-ma-zing.
Radkey is already a great band and this was a truly
groin moisteningly great show. Sure they wear their influences on their sleeves
but most importantly they wear them well. What’s even more exciting though is
what these dudes will go on to do and sound like in the coming years. The world’s
been waiting for another really great rock band for some time now. Could Radkey actually be it...?
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