I’m Not From London and Black Iris Brewery host their 8th Piss Up In a Brewery event. We headed down for an evening of beers and bands.
Opening the show are Slumb Party, who describe themselves as “off of them Nottinghams” Their post-punk sound is best encapsulated in Ghosts, which starts slowly but builds up and features both Ian Curtis-like jerky dancing and his baritone vocals. It would be very simplistic to simply compare them to Joy Division though, even if that is the band that they best resemble. Songs like Disappointment have an angular sound that also recalls elements of Maxïmo Park’s superior danceable indie. Before the last song, Questions Questions Questions, lead singer Joey announces that he’s off to the toilet as soon as the song is finished. Ironic since it has the lyrics, “I’ve been on the toilet for three days” Toilet troubles aside, it was a great set, simmering with a passionate intensity.
Back when we still listened to what he said, Morrissey told us, “I thought that if you had an acoustic guitar, then it meant that you were a protest singer” Second band, We Wild Blood are possibly the first hard rock band that I’ve seen whose guitarist uses an acoustic guitar, although it is smothered in effects. They play some songs incredibly quickly, almost at a Ramones pace. There are also some slower songs, given space to breathe, more bass driven with whispered vocals, which sound more like heavy prog. The vocals are spread around and even Dave, from Bloody Head, sings a song.
Then Dave is back and it’s time for Bloody Head, who encourage the audience to get as close as possible. There’s something visceral about their performance, the hard rock, the strained vocals, the lyrics, “she comes, I go” Like all the best punk bands, there’s minimal chat with the audience between songs but they do have a couple of tracks that go on a bit too long (maybe this is just me and the punk sensibilities that I was brought up with, maybe other people like long songs with meandering guitar solos) Anyway, they end with a bang – a song that includes the lyrics, “Jesus was a fake” and finishes with Dave on the ground, being dragged off through the crowd.
I feel a bit sorry for Sheer Attack, from Liverpool, having to follow that. While they’re pretty good, they lack the excitement and danger of Bloody Head. Although, having said that they do get an impressive mosh pit going. This seems a little like a excuse for frontman Russ to borrow some hats from audience members.
Keep your eyes peeled on the I’m Not From London Facebook page to see when the next Piss Up In A Brewery will be: https://www.facebook.com/ImNotFromLondonEvents/
By Gav Squires
