Alternative Britain - the usual suspects, cop on fire, +3, rhyl, 28/7/07

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Topic: the usual suspects, cop on fire, +3, rhyl, 28/7/07 (Read 538 times)

markwj
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the usual suspects, cop on fire, +3, rhyl, 28/7/07
« Thread Started on Aug 1, 2007, 4:13pm »

The Usual Suspects, Cop on Fire, Mafafi, Hotwired, Jon Doe & the Fuck-Ups
The Dudley Arms, Rhyl
28/7/07

An all dayer that didn’t quite turn out to be an all dayer, but given that I was on a particularly dirty weekend myself it was probably a good job, as I can’t hack the pace. Had dragged myself out after a couple of hours dozing after the previous nights exertions into a pleasant summer afternoon that seemed perfect for relaxing to punk mayhem. However being the only person seemingly in the pub for the gig, including bands and promoters made me wonder whether I’d done a bit of a rip van winkle and last a larger portion of my life through the demon drink blackouts than I had at first thought. Soon enough Dave turned up trying not to get too stressed on some 5 bands crying off and chasing up replacements. Given that there was nothing going to be happening for hours I erred on the side of caution and went home for more beauty sleep, to return in the evening as ugly as ever.

In good timing for the first band, Birkenhead youngsters Jon Doe & the Fuck ups. They’d put some good effort in with their various Mohicans and while the music could get a bit sloppy as their name might suggest they barrelled along with obvious enjoyment. The vocalist had quite a dark snarl but the overall tone was basic punk. Some covers were thrown in, including “one that any self-respecting punk should know” apparently. I didn’t but then again self respect went out the window some time ago. They finished with “birkenhaters”, a spirited defence of their maligned hometown, and having had some good nights out there I could empathise. Wouldn’t want to live there though.

Definitely old enough to be their dads Hotwired from dahn sarf (except Norwich is more ahht east) were next. Stylish frontman, with some impressive “elevator” shoes, and while there was a pretty traditional element to their punk it fair thundered along at times, some excellent guitaring especially that when up-tempo reminded me of an almost Motorhead heavy swagger. Looking into it they have a pretty changeable line-up but the strength of the tunes obviously keeps them going, they didn’t have much of a crowd to reward their journey but the warmth of the response from those there must have helped. And there’s nothing like yer Cockney/Mockney accent for accenting lines like “keep yer fucking nose out…”

High contrast again with the Scottish youf of Mafafi. While the music is still an uncomplicated punk core it is delivered at hyper hardcore intensity, topped off with some truly extreme screaming vocals (more akin to grindcore like Heresy of Thieves) from a frontman who looked like some ‘80’s kid on the run from a school PE lesson. He certainly threw himself about with reckless abandon but still seemed to retain his humour, reflected in some throwaway song descriptions and the one second set closer. I was impressed, and though no cd was available they have stuff to download from myspazz.

An interlude for some lovely vegan curry plus other scoff provided free furthered the good atmosphere that is always found here

Cop On Fire, loved the name and loved the band. Part of a double header tour from Belgium you could tell by their stage set up it was going to be a bit different with a table for laptop and mixers on one side. This provides a whole load of samples and layered effects that really added a lot to their dub heavy punk skanking, the vocals also rolling off in waves of delay effect. Not being much of a stoner (any more) and having less rhythm than Joey Deacon this style doesn’t have much natural appeal to me but I was more than won over by their inventive, experimental variation on the theme. They certainly put a lot of passion in to it too, during brief technical problem breaks all of them taking time to explain with clarity the fierce social and political convictions underpinning the music. Excellent.

Headliners tonight the Usual Suspects weren’t far removed stylistically to make enough sense for them to be touring partners, but still had enough of their own thing going to maintain the interest. There slower sections were similar but subtly they’d crank up the pace to get proper hardcore, the bassist showing great dexterity and speed in these shifts. The vocalist didn’t sound particularly Belgian, or else he’d got his English growl off pat (butcher) but the delivery was strong, even with the delayed effects again. They were certainly on message again and fair play to them for travelling and spreading worthwhile words.

With stamina finally fading but having been highly satisfied with the evening I left before the end though the skanking was still in full effect. There was a tour cd of the Belgian bands available which I picked up, the demo quality not quite matching how good they were in this live environment. But still, some fine additional Belgian exports of note beyond the renowned “Wifebeater”.

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joehovis
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Re: the usual suspects, cop on fire, +3, rhyl, 28/
« Reply #1 on Aug 1, 2007, 4:21pm »

that day i saw Jon Doe & the Fuck ups (i now know it was them coz they had scouse accents and all had mohicans) on the train going to rhyl, and it was funny coz this cocky as fuck 12 year old walked past them and he was stroking there hair! they looked so offended yet didnt say anything whilst everyone else just laughed!

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davecox
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Re: the usual suspects, cop on fire, +3, rhyl, 28/
« Reply #2 on Aug 2, 2007, 10:19am »

cant believe they didnt say anything, they can talk for britain them scousers, chewed my ears off all afternoon haha

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eezabrute
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Re: the usual suspects, cop on fire, +3, rhyl, 28/
« Reply #3 on Aug 2, 2007, 9:57pm »

Cop On Fire were fucking ace, as were Usual Suspects.
hoping that c.o.f. release a CD thing soon. cause as good as the 2 songs on the demo split with usual suspects are, i need more!!

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