Friday night! Three great bands! At Deptford's best-kept secret! How could we say no?
Tonight is our first time at Endeavour, a small bar just a couple of minutes away from Deptford DLR station, and we like what we find. The bands play in a small basement room with good sound, and there’s the all-important reasonably priced booze. Alas my phone’s camera (or maybe just my photography skills) is no match for the red stage light, so apologies that my photos aren’t great for this one!
Joshua Zero is described as ‘emo’ on the gig poster, but when we see that his guitarist is wearing a Cradle Of Filth t-shirt, we have a feeling that he and his band are not going to be so easily pigeonholed. Sure, there are times when it’s little more than Joshua and his plaintively-strummed guitar, but we rarely have to wait for long before the band explode into life with some surprisingly savage riffing or some Weezer-esque melodic grunge/power pop. He keeps us guessing at every turn, and although things are soon to get more raucous and unhinged, ultimately he proves no less compelling for trying a different musical tack. Check out last year’s excellent ‘Zerocore’ album.
Did we say raucous and unhinged? We did not lie. RPC (Radioactive Puppies of Chernobyl) even manage to get someone mistakenly windmilling away during their soundcheck, and when they kick off for real with the slice of raw, filthy hardcore punk that is ‘Drugz R Bad’, things start to get increasingly hot and sweaty in the Endeavour’s confines. Be it the outbreak of two-stepping that greets ‘Molotov’, or the chaos incited by the seismic riffs of ‘Feed Me A Stray Cat’ (hey, I guess even radioactive puppies have to eat too), nothing in their set falls flat today, and any new fans gained tonight (including us!) are thoroughly deserved. Check out their recent ‘Fuelled By Spite’ EP.
Headliners Equals What? are – to their eternal credit – an inclusive and gloriously riotous band. Inclusive, in the sense that their vocalist isn’t shy to confront bigotry and say the things that (alas) still need to be said. Riotous, in the sense that he and his bandmates are more than happy to get down in the pit to help crank things up a level – even to the extent of their bassist downing his instrument to go nuts in the crowd, midway through a punishing ‘Enslaved’.
Make no mistake, though – musically, they remain tight as hell throughout the likes of ‘Emmental Breakdown’ and a particularly potent ‘This House Ain’t Home No More’, and it’s a joy to see them all headbanging away together onstage. You get the sense that they’d stop at nothing to make this the ultimate thrash-infused hardcore punk party, and the demands for an extra song (which they grant, bless them) at the end of their set are proof enough of their success. Check out their recent ‘End Of The World’ EP.
Cheers to Cash Pistache Promotions for having us! Check out details of their future gigs on the link.
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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