The Stereotypes (UK), Family Of Strangers, Noir Mates and Thee Derelique put on a punk party!
Back in March 2019, the world screeched to a grinding halt under the veil of covid. During this time, an idea was formulated by Del Bombshell (then guitarist with Brighton, UK Punk Ska outfit Soho Bombshell) to create a vinyl only record label. A year and a few months later, ‘Dive Bombing for Chips Volume 1‘, the first vinyl compilation was produced by Rats With Wings Records. This marked the beginning of a five-year journey. Two further vinyl compilations followed; ‘Dive Bombing for Chips Volumes 2 and 3‘, as well as the debut LP for Noir Mates – ‘Wonderful Darkness‘.
Today we celebrate the label’s 5th anniversary, with a matinee showcasing three of their prominent Brighton bands, Noir Mates, Family of Strangers and Thee Derelique. The show also introduced a band who, back in 1979 were responsible for the now most collectible independent UK punk single, changing hands for £1500. The Stereotypes (UK) hail from Ilford in Essex and, as the story goes, they recorded the ‘Countdown‘ EP, played one gig, had a row, and split up! They are now back, busy playing gigs, and this was their first ever Brighton show.
So, onto the event itself. At 2.14 pm The Prince Albert is filling nicely and there are some well-known faces in the audience, including Charlie Harper of the UK Subs, and members of Peter and The Test Tube Babies. First band up are Thee Derelique, a garage rock post punk quintet based in Brighton, who blend genres into a sound that is both melodic and metrical. Specs (Rebecca Ridgers) fronts the band with euphonious vocal melodies and impactful and sometimes trenchancy lyrics. Jim on guitar plays jagged riffs, while Ian Mackenzie puts in his own riffy bass lines. Add the rising keyboards of Andy, and they are all metronomically kept together by the drumming of Will Moore.
Thee Derelique offer up performances of striking 1960s garage melodies within a post punk framework, leaving you singing choruses and humming riffs for days after. They launch straight into ‘Summertime‘, a guitar-led number whose chorus builds into an explosive crescendo. Next up is the full garage sound of ‘Conspiracy‘ and the (now large) audience are fully engaged. The third song of the set appeared on ‘Dive Bombing for Chips Volume 2‘. ‘Feeling Inside‘ is a euphoric neo-acid rock sing-along number. Specs calls out “Don’t let go, don’t let go” as the song begins. The band are now in full swing as the next three songs, a newer track called ‘Look Me in the Eye‘, followed by ‘Doorbell‘ and ‘Winning Hand‘, whirl by.
Leading on to the beautifully crafted song ‘Annabel‘, which featured on ‘Dive Bombing for Chips Vol 3‘. It is written about a suicide, and settles somewhere between the Velvet Underground and X-Ray Specs. This one is a crowd favourite. Thee Derelique turn up the dial a little more with ‘Action‘, before ending their set with two newer songs ‘Get back, I’m Evil‘ and ‘I Hated You‘ – both strong contenders for the set highlight!
You can catch Thee Derelique at the City Baby Attacked by Rats With Wings Festival at the Pipeline, Brighton on Friday November 7th, with Noir Mates, Poorly Trained Radicals and Eddie Roxy and the Adjacent Kings. They also play the Pipeline on Saturday 29th November with the The Arsenics, Mowfy and the The Damn Shebang.
15 minutes later Noir Mates enter the stage. Neon signs with the band’s logo hang left and right, illuminating Hells Angels-style Noir Mates jackets. Lead singer Joe Moon and guitarist Gary Guitar Noir are dressed like a pair of matador assassins. Joe begins by dedicating the Noir Mates’ set to recently deceased member of the Brighton music scene, Billy Bowker. The atmospheric vision on stage soon becomes sound with the introduction of the band’s opening ghostly, echo-driven song, simply called ‘Noir‘.
This number is followed by the full-powered sonic guitar attack, racing bass lines, and hypo-rhythmic drums of ‘Mo Plastic‘, which musically resembles The Fall having a knife fight with the Butthole Surfers.. The latter section sees the hat-wearing lead singer diving between stage and audience. Noir Mates‘ third song is the single that featured on ‘Dive Bombing for Chips Volume 3‘ and their own ‘Wonderful Darkness‘ album; ‘Voilet‘. Joe introduces this song with a shout out to the Rats With Wings label.
‘Voilet‘ is steeped in Beefheart-esque blues, and Joe Moon prowls the stage like a possessed blues shouter as the tune swings and stutters along, like a rabid sidewinder. Next up is the machine-like bass line and staccato guitar intro of ‘Reaching Out My Hand‘. A powerful tune, as is their next song ‘Weird Growth‘, a rhythmic passage into a Doors-like rite of passage before snapping back in what came before. ‘Bones of W.A. Burroughs‘ is led by the pulsating rock guitar of Gary. The song moves into a dreamscape with a spoken word interlude before escaping into the ether.
‘Cul-de-Sac‘ introduces saxophonist Steve to the stage. As the bass pulsates with a rhythmic groove, the wild syncopated drumbeats of Graham falter and the guitar riff fades, Joe calls out “Just breath, breath stay with me” and the saxophone enters the fold. This song ebbs and flows until distorted guitar and screeching saxophone end the chaos. Next, Noir Mates launch into the ‘Wonderful Darkness‘ album opener, ‘B.B.F‘, a track which is very popular with the audience, as more dancing breaks out all across the front of the stage, and the lead singer hollers “Rang dang diddle a lang da lang” whilst mimicking shooting a gangster’s air machine gun.
For the final song ‘Sticky Red Fingers‘, Joe vocalises a macabre children’s nursery rhyme, whilst the band bring the song up then down, before exploding into a deranged ranted climax, with the Joe out in the audience again. All in all, a wonderful introduction to a band with both talent and individuality in equal proportions!
Noir Mates next gigs are at the Fiddlers Elbow in Camden on 26th October, and they headline the Friday night of City Baby Attacked by Rats With Wings Festival on 7th November (see above).
This afternoon’s main support Family Of Strangers take to the stage at 4.05pm to show us what they’ve got for the next 40 minutes. Opening with the bouncy, guitar-driven song ‘Dressed to Kill‘, the set continues with garage punk-meets- Sex Pistols ‘Predator‘, which commences with lead guitarist Del Bombshell‘s chords in a repetitive backwards and forwards pattern. Lead singer Lou Moon and bassist Richie Nice call out ‘P-p-p-p- predator’ on the choruses. The crowd show their enjoyment with loud cheers and claps. Next up is ‘Catch or Release‘. Lou’s vocal intro catches the other band members by surprise – jokes are shared by both band and audience – so Lou starts again. This song is a fast-paced pop/punky number with a ska-ish middle eight and a lot of “Oi,oi,oi’s”, reflecting Lou’s East London’s origins.
Family of Strangers continue with ‘Survivor‘, a tale of surviving the drug gangs of the county lines. There’s now a real urgency and togetherness about the band in both their playing and singing. Del chops out a guitar intro which heralds the first verse with a high squeal. Like most of the Family of Strangers songs, this one is under 3 minutes long – old school 7″ single size! A drum solo from Jono midway allows the other three members to skank their stuff, with Lou adding wonderful vocal accompaniment. A riff played through a phaser brings in the next song, ‘Your Love the Killer is Dangerous to Me‘, a song reminiscent of early eighties The Damned. Followed by Jono’s drum roll introduction, they then launch into ‘Politic Personal‘ a kind of “Hey Ho” the Ramones-meets-Bad Religion guitar-driven punk song.
Next up is ‘Disintegration Nation‘, a jumpy ska number, which starts with an almost happy-sounding riff leading into a hardcore ranting chorus of “This country’s broken, I want a refund”. Audience participation is keen. The following tune ‘Superhero‘ allows Lou to showcase her powerful vocals as the song rises and falls then rises again. The ‘Family of Strangers Anthem‘ creates an instant singalong environment; many of the crowd seem to know every word. The band change direction again with a grungy garage number ‘Not it Yet‘ which surges into a manic guitar section before rolling to a close. They keep to a garage rock theme with their next song ‘Teenage Zombies from Mars‘.
Family of Strangers‘ penultimate song has had a lot of independent radio air play this year. ‘Dead People Sell‘ is the bands jovial warning that in the Rock ‘n’ Roll world, you’re worth more to your record company dead than you are alive! The song has a Cramps-esque feel to it, with heavy-duty fuzz guitar. The lyrics are punk fun at its best, where in the final verse Lou lists names of several well-loved music stars, ending with “Keith Richards, well nearly!” She then introduces a special guest for the final song, as Niall Sparkles from Brighton punk band The Glitterbombs enters stage right for the finale, ‘Shoot Nazis‘. (After the show, Del explains it is an eco-friendly song about making the world a better place – with a grin on his face). Richie starts this one, with a rumbling bass riff followed by thumping percussion from Jono, and explosive guitar chording from Niall and Del.
Lou sings the first verse ‘”We need to make a difference; changes must be rung. Indifference, intolerance and ignorance are wrong. Can’t rely on government, destroy greed’s Babylon. Set parliament alight, the dirty MPs must be hung”. Going straight into a full front-line chorus of Lou, Niall, Richie and Del, singing “Save the bees, plant more trees, clean the seas and shoot Nazis”. The second verse arrives, band and audience seem as one as the song climaxes with a triple length chorus and all on stage are screaming “Shoot Nazis” in a call and return. Ending with the intro riff, now on guitar, and finally slowing down to end, claps and whoops and shouts from the audience see Family of Strangers finish their set.
Catch the band on 18th October at the Fiddlers Elbow, Camden with Rage DC and Ugly Scenes, then at City Baby Attacked by Rats With Wings Festival on 9th November (see above).
The headline band are The Stereotypes. Their first number ‘Too Much, Too Late‘ has new wave feel to it. This is followed by a track from the ‘Forward‘ LP, ‘Brown Acid‘ written in 1979 by a (now deceased) band member who is credited on the LP simply as Douglas. Next is the up-tempo, ‘Hasn’t Been The Same‘. ‘Parisienne‘ then follows, a stylish number from the ‘Countdown‘ EP debut release, driven by up-tempo riffing and with snarlier vocals from lead man Ashley.
‘Young People Need Drugs‘ is a new song from their upcoming next release, as is the track ‘Inspired‘. The tempo is upped again with two songs ‘I Hate Work‘ and the title track from the original EP, ‘Countdown‘. Next up is ‘We’re All Gonna Die‘, a tongue-in-cheek insight into this mortal coil. The penultimate tune is another new one, ‘Back in the Day‘, which showcases the band’s writing skills. Their set ends on the final track of the ‘Forward‘ LP, ‘Goodbye Cruel World‘, and it’s time for The Stereotypes to say goodbye to Brighton to warm rounds of applause and calls for “more” from an appreciative audience!
Main Photo Credit / All Photos (except Stereotypes): JIMMY GUEST PHOTOGRAPHY
All Videos: JOHN KOVACS at Altered Natives
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