Deadlight Spiral, Anti-Virus @ CBay 31.1.08

[neilcrud]

ANTI-VIRUS
DEADLIGHT SPIRAL

The Litten Tree, Colwyn Bay 31.01.2008

(review n pix by neil crud)

I hate Battles of The Bands, they suck big time, full of gerrymandering and rife with corruption. In fact all BoTB organisers should go back to doing It's A Knockout but with very short ropes around their necks. If bands boycotted them the competition would cease to exist. Two of tonight's contenders realised this and pulled out, so the other band remaining got through to the next round by default. 'Hey, we won!' Yeah, but it's not a game of darts, it doesn't mean you're better than the other bands, there's no way to gauge a better band, not even by record sales (another corrupt business), it's all down to personal taste. You may love a band while your brother hates them.

Deadlight Spiral (pic above) didn't jump up in triumphant joy with a clenched fist in the air to scream 'Hey, we won!' - they were dubious of playing this unadvertised event when they were told each band had to bring their own PA..! They would've also probably sacked the whole idea had not a few of us bods showed up to see them for the first time (this being only their second gig). We (Steve Sync and myself) braved the gales along the A55 to show our vested interest in Deadlight Spiral, the brainchild of Daz Roddick who played alongside Steve in Alien Matter, and sat behind the drum kit is none other than ex-4Q, Frank's Dad, Sons of Selina, Alien Matter and The Affliction member Cumi Pants.
With the Battle of The Bands idea shoved to one side, Deadlight Spiral could've treated tonight in a number of ways; they could've gone home, used it as a rehearsal, or, as they did, they mustered up Daz's other band Anti-Virus and put on a showcase for the 30 or so people present. With the Rhyl scene going through its ten-yearly dead in the water music phase (see you in 3 years); Colwyn Bay has taken up the baton and is charging on ahead with becoming the hub of the North Wales scene. At the moment it's fragmented and disorganised, three gigs a week; well 4 this week: tonight's, The Racketears tomorrow night, Speakers Corner too, and Revenge of The Psychotronic Man at the Imp on Saturday and Anti-Virus up at the Old Hall as well. History will tell you that's too many shows for people to afford, especially when a lot of them have to shoplift sweeties in order to eat and minesweep their beer at the pub. The Imperial Hotel pulled the show for Saturday, but the promoter Splat is onto a good thing if she can, with support get it together.

Deadlight Spiral spring into action, for, like I said, only their second outing. This isn't a bedroom band trying their luck, a demo has already been released, albeit without the solid backing of Cumi's drums, gigs in London booked and a serious outlook. They immediately reminded me of our (Sons of Selina) old label mates Porcupine Tree, but without the primadonna stance; great sound and very tight. They build up their songs into a cresendo that sweeps you away to wherever you want to go. Brilliant guitar sound with a technique so good you are on occasion looking for the second guitarist. A man at one with his instrument with a Dave Gilmour lick here and there.
There is an element of Dad Rock to all this, but only if your Dad was the type who took lots of psychedelic drugs, shagged loads of birds and toured the world in a hand painted magic bus. If you're searching for a nice verse chorus verse chorus middle eight verse chorus chorus finish then by a fucking Cribs LP - these songs are so structurally complicated, it'd take the young pretenders a lifetime of magic mushrooming to work it out. And yet its not complicated for its own sake in the way some tossed up guitar wanking muso ponce would try and cram in as many notes onto one bar and as many riffs and chords into every song in a vain attempt to impress you - fucking cocks the lots of them. No, these are intricately structured without losing it and Deadlight Spiral pulled it off everytime.
The version (their only cover) of The Dead Kennedys' Let's Lynch The Landlord is a great choice; put this way, if they'd have played Purple Haze I'd have emptied my pint over them and walked out! The DKs gave Colwyn Bay's punk contingent an added bonus as they watched their mates attempt to broaden their horizons with a different genre while maintaining that punk attitude. Take the track where Daz is screaming 'CCTV sees right through me' just like a punk, it's played like a punk song before chopping into something Steve Hillage would muster up before rattling back to full throttle; then why not chuck in a rumbling bassline with a bit of hi-hat; build it up again and then slam back into a different riff and still hold it, and your attention together.

Possibly playing their first gig, or second at most is Daz Roddick's other band, Anti-Virus (pic above), although he unstraps his guitar and climbs behind the kit and proves he is just at ease bashing the skins as he is bending the strings. Fronted by the once also ubiquitous Gary Hubble, who was ironically guitarist in Alien Matter prior to Daz. Gary's last and long (by his standards) project Skunkfish had funked itself into the ground and they caught the bug spread by the success of Global Parasite and put the punk into funk. Age of Aquarius kicks things off, it's very loud, very fast, but not punk and not metal - just fast and loud like Mclusky with a proper guitarist. You soon learnt that this is a politically and socially motivated band when Alliance is introduced about rioting against the system and throbs into a chugga chugga sound similiar to a demented Twisted Sister b-side entangled in a game of Tom & Jerry with a rottweiler. Dave Cox (pic below) gets up to do a couple of numbers to abolish classification and the memory pangs of Discharge 7" singles. There still is an element of the funk roots peeping up from the soil, but this is a very anti-everything punk band with a clout harder than your angry Dad. Fuck The Royalty - you see loads of plod punk bands playing those same old very tired chords in the same old very tired sequence, this is very much under-the-counter illicit stuff that the store assistant would slip into your bag; you'd take it home, give one listen and wonder where the fuck has this band been all my life?
If Gary can hold his delicate head together Anti-Virus have a fucking great future on the punk circuit.