A rock n' roll Halloween party to rank with the best of them!
You can always trust Shake Some Acton to throw a great party, and indeed, Mannie has pulled a frightfully good line-up out of the bag for tonight’s Halloween show at the excellent Signature Brew Haggerston. It’s great to see the place already at least half full before anyone’s played a note, and with a decent-sized contingent of folks in suitably ghoulish fancy dress, all the necessary ingredients are in place for an evening to remember.
Noir Addiction have come all the way from Italy, and whilst their pounding NIN-meets-Killing Joke songs sound suitably dark and intimidating, they’re offset by their creators’ bouncing, hair-shaking, gyrating, hip-thrusting love of performing live. Their vocalist seems to have perfected his thousand yard stare, and the overall vibe is that of a kind of hyperactively-delivered Sunday sermon. (Yes, we know it’s Friday today. No, we don’t care). A great start.
There’s a whole lotta Cramps to Mystery Action, and that’s no bad thing at all; they’ve got great twangy surf riffs by the bucketload, and it’s heartening to see things get increasingly packed down the front. Boasting a stand-up drummer and a highly charismatic vocalist, the likes of ‘Revenge Is Sweet’ and ‘I Hate You’ fizz all with animosity that you’d hope for. They’d make a great soundtrack to a sinister spaghetti western, and a cover of Grace Slick’s ‘White Rabbit’ is a smart, inclusive move.
Witchdoktors never fail to deliver live, and – as ever – the South London punk n’ rollers get straight down to business, with vocalist Andy Last’s corpse-painted face breaking into a grin as the crowd sing old favourite ‘No Pain No Gain’ back to him. The trio’s recent ‘Izzatso?’ album quite rightly gets a substantial airing, with the Clash-esque ‘Freedom Fighter’ and ‘Spanner In The Works’ going down a storm. A small but enthusiastic pit kicks off down the front, and by the time they close with the anthemic ‘Before The War’, it’s clear that they can chalk tonight up as yet another victory. Check out that album, by the way – it’s superb!
Full respect and credit is due to all the members of The Darts, with drummer Heather and bassist Lindsay holding down the low end magnificently, and guitarist Rebecca unleashing no end of great trebly licks. However, vocalist and organ player Nicole undoubtedly remains the focal point of the band; how could she not, coming across as part acrobat, part mime artist, and all-round great singer and performer? As usual, her Farfisa organ takes a fair amount of punishment, yet she doesn’t miss a note as the Seattle quartet deliver gems from new album ‘Halloween Love Songs’ with the ease of seasoned professionals and plenty of pure punk rock energy.
Everyone listens intently as Nicole tells the stories behind the songs, which makes for a great gathering-of-friends vibe, and as she gets a devoted fan onstage to lead us through the ‘Midnight Creep’ cat dance (trust us, you had to be there!), we can only wish that all our favourite garage rock bands boasted the quality of songs and level of showmanship that The Darts display this evening. A contender for set of the year, no less.
Cheers to Shake Some Acton for having us, and for putting on a spooktacular Halloween Party! Check out details of future SSA gigs via the socials links below.
All Photos: ALEX GOOSE
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I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
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