A beast of a pre-Easter hardcore bill in south London!
Damn, five quality hardcore bands, three from overseas, for less than fifteen quid? Cashpistache Promotion has really pulled it out of the bag this time. By rights, the Blue Monk should be packed wall-to-wall tonight, but instead, it’s merely respectably full. Oh well, it is Manchester Punk Festival weekend, after all.
As on their recent ‘Make Them Pay’ EP, Emergency Broadcast utterly slay tonight. Arguably the heaviest band on the bill, they inject a welcome dose of crossover thrash into proceedings, and deservedly get a handful of folks windmilling away down at the front. I’m showing my age here, but at times, the crushing breakdowns of ‘Drowning Dog’ and ‘Get The Point’ remind me of when I first saw prime-era Machine Head over a quarter of a century ago – Emergency Broadcast hit similarly hard this evening.
Peruvian quartet Tomar Control fall more on the punk side of hardcore, but are no less compelling for it. The likes of ‘Patria Muerta’ and ‘Represión’ may paint a grim picture of their troubled homeland, but the band have challenged their anger well, and tonight they absolutely rage throughout their all-too-short set – with not a minute wasted. There are quite rightly more stirrings down the front – this is passionate, powerful stuff, and we eagerly await their return.
Of all tonight’s bands, you sense that Portland quintet Dry Socket most need this music as an outlet for their fury towards the times we’re living in. Following a scorcher of an opening ‘Rigged Survival’, vocalist Dani delivers a impassioned speech on the state of her country (and the world in general), and both her and her band’s frustration shines through in every note of their relentless hardcore attack. They’re rewarded with some serious side-to-side action, and no doubt recruit a fair few new fans (including yours truly) to their cause.
Nothing Works hail from Berlin, and are perhaps the most unorthodox band of the evening, with a melodic post-hardcore twist to their sound. They only play seven songs, but that’s because vocalist Lilian has plenty worthwhile to say in between, and it’s heartening that everyone present listens closely. They righteously tackle topics like fatphobia (‘Take My Body Out Of Your Mouth’) and anti-immigrant sentiment (‘I Know You Hate Me…’); this is hardcore as protest music, as originally intended, and we can’t get enough of it.
Ah, Shooting Daggers, what can we say about you that we haven’t said before? As ever, Sal and co play a tight, vitriolic set that takes aim at macho bullshit and hits it right between the eyes, with everything sounding twice as powerful as on record. Whether getting everyone to sit down for ‘A Guilty Conscience Needs An Accuser’, blasting through a full-tilt ‘Wipeout’ or recruiting Nothing Works vocalist Lilian for ace new single ‘Glow’, they don’t put a foot wrong this evening. Can’t wait for that new album (due in June)
Overall, a great evening. Cheers to all the bands involved, and to Cashpistache for putting it all together!
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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