Skalloween – Trick or Treat?
Friday, 04 December 2009
Someone had been hard at work in the lead up to Halloween. We left a dull Kettering street and entered through black bin liner curtains, past a toilet pan with decorative pine cone and onto a thick carpet of dry leaves. Through the wardrobe into Narnia or what? Well, what actually. Amputated hands poked through crates on the walls, foliage abounded, fake blood was smeared on the toilet walls, and bloody footprints led away from the toilets. Some creative fancy dress and the obligatory hammer horror films completed another normal night at Sawyer’s.......
ANTI VIGILANTE - MILTON SCENE
First up on the Halloween menu were Anti Vigilante and they’ve taught us at least two things. Firstly, there’s more to Milton Keynes than grid systems and endless roundabouts, and secondly, you should rarely judge a band’s music by your first listen. We’d seen them a while before, supporting Random Hand in the same venue, and, to be honest, we hadn’t been that impressed. A few weeks later and the band were a different proposition altogether.
Lead singer Josh fizzes about the stage with the sort of energy that a man of my advanced years can only watch and envy. When he does stop flying around the place, it’s usually because he has a saxophone in his gob and he’s a little more constrained by the location of the microphone. Either way, his sheer enthusiasm and musical ability are there for all to see.
Guitarist Sean is another one who seems just to enjoy playing in a band. He was leaping around with a huge grin on his face, a grin which was only wiped off when he had to do a forfeit. He’d lost to one of The JB Conspiracy in some late night, alcohol-fuelled computer game and, as a result, had to read out a statement slagging himself off. I can’t remember the details but very funny at the time.
In terms of music, Anti Vigilante don’t fit neatly into the ska punk box, veering more towards a hardcore sound or, as they describe it, skacore. They’re not reluctant to experiment either, with Josh introducing one song by asking the crowd if anyone liked hip hop. What followed wasn’t exactly a pure form of the genre but it did show that they weren’t afraid to step out and mix things up a bit.
Another good sign for Anti Vigilante was that on both occasions that we saw them, they had a small but noisy contingent of followers from Milton Keynes. All this bodes well for the future. Good luck boys.
TRUE BEAT – BEST SERVED LIVE
We thought we’d missed True Beat but thankfully they’d been delayed and had swapped places on the bill with Anti Vigilante. On the night, we witnessed a no-nonsense, knees up, sweat-dripping ska set with stand out songs being Shanty Town, Nineteen Eighty Four and the incredibly infectious Bounce. The band has been going for less than a year so this made the live performance even more impressive.
Tempted by their show, I took a chance and bought a copy of their debut album Back to Square One. Unfortunately this showed me another side of the band. Lyrically, songs like Blames Direct and 28 Percent feel a bit like preachy Daily Mail* editorials about ‘health & safety gone mad!’ and ‘scroungers on benefits!’ In terms of the music, there just appears to be something missing. I’m not sure whether it’s a weak production job, a need for a dirtier sound or simply the fact that ska is best enjoyed live. I’m hoping it’s the latter and I’d be happy to go to see the band again, but the CD will probably not get overplayed at home.
DIRTY REVOLUTION – MORE PLEASE
The main reason we’d gone to the gig was to get our first live experience of Dirty Revolution and we weren’t disappointed. Having fallen in love with and worn out their five track CD**, it was great to finally see them on the stage and to find out that they were even better than we thought. Reb’s voice overcame the raw sound quality and there was a tougher edge to the whole sound than had been revealed on the recorded material. Songs we knew – I Love Reggae, Police and Failure to Communicate were mixed with new (to us) songs like Sometimes You’re Too Rude. My old legs even managed a bit of a skank to I Love Reggae. Our only complaints would be the absence of 50p and the fact that the set seemed to be over way too fast and we were left wanting more, but hey, isn’t that just a sign of a good band? Hoping to catch them again in December.....
THE JB CONSPIRACY – THE SURPRISE PACKAGE
We’d heard of The JB Conspiracy and listened to a couple of tracks on the band’s MySpace but we weren’t bowled over and still went to the gig almost exclusively to see Dirty Revolution. That’s why The JB Conspiracy were such a fantastic bonus. The band came on stage sporting Halloween masks, so it started a bit like being serenaded by a bunch of bank robbers doing a bit of busking while waiting for the getaway vehicles. By the end of the set, we could easily recommend The JB Conspiracy for a high energy night of ska fun. These guys are professional, skilled musicians, very relaxed on stage and high quality entertainment. Oh, and they’re from Guildford and a bit posher than your average ska punk crew. I’m sure I heard an ‘h’ between the ‘f’ and the ‘u’ when lead singer Lank occasionally wandered into very unGuildfordlike swearing territory! The band’s CD, This Machine, is growing on us as well but live is where ska punk lives....
Answer: Treat
LINKS
LINKED ARTICLES ON TAKE THE RED PILL
A Didgeridoo, Wheelchair Moshing and a Skank against Racism (The Levellers & the Beat)
**Revolution, Celery & Britney Spears’ Bum (Dirty Revolution CD review)
Ska Punk Academy (Sonic Boom Six, the Skints and Resolution 242)
*The Daily Extremists (part of our media series, looking at the Daily Express and Daily Mail)
The ‘No Blame’ Culture (in praise of corporate responsibility)
