WRONG
WRONG.. Berkeley Tavern 17th June.
Formed by 3 of the founder members of the awesome CRANE, it would be a long shot to think that over 10 years since the sadly deceased John Peel said they where the best band in Britain, these lads could recreate the driving, fearful power of that band. well, a couple of notes into the very first song, you knew that they were back in full on ,raging style, Sean hitting the drums as if they were his mortal enemy, surprising everyone with rhythm changes that shouldn’t fit, but did, Rob Turnbull on bass, a flurry of sliding entwhistle/jean Jacque Burnell punches,’ new lad' Steve on guitar: stunning chopping solos, and of course the berserker whirlwind that is Roy Fox....a more frightening front man hasn’t been around since the video for fire starter scared the nation. every song was a scorching travelogue of the strange lives of this band, no chance of airplay with the 'wanking over my dead girlfriend ' lyric, but it fitted the anger and angst of the moment, and created the perfect opener for a 1/2 hour set of pure genius. it was fitting that what was to be a new venue for 'Ska Monkey' was scuppered by the inebriated manageress complaining that 'the band are all high on drugs‘, she just couldn’t see that drugs weren’t a factor, being back on stage obviously was!!...I hope it isn’t 10 years till the next gig...watch this space
By: Tony Eastlake