Road trip - our roving reporter/bass player DLW catches as many of the bands at this Colwyn Bay gig as he can whilst sandwiching in playing the gig himself!
My guitars, amp, leads, pedals and shit are loaded into the car as I head off to Colwyn Bay to play at the outstanding Olde World pub, The Pavilion. Hosted by Zoe, this is one gig I'm looking forward to playing. An hour after setting off, we arrive... that is - me and my mate. The gear is loaded in and stowed away, hello's are said as I bump into some old friends who I've not seen in eons. Next on the list is a visit to the bar and grabbing a shandy, very rock and roll but in my defense, I am driving after all!
I make my way into the main room where the bands are playing. First band I catch are Vile Assembly. A three piece consisting of a lead vocalist and two guitars.... the bass and drums are provided by a backing track. Only other punk band that I know that uses a drum machine are the excellent Cress. Vile Assembly are excellent too, remind me of late 70s punk. They take me back to the days of my innocent(?) youth. It's hard to describe the sound of Vile Assembly but it's captivating, I can say that much. The singer almost warbles at various points in this intriguing set. They have a very clean sound that wouldn't be out of place in the mainstream indie genre. I get called away to help our drummer load his gear in so I'm only half listening to the remainder of Vile Assembly's set but in conclusion, a very proficient band, the singer is backed with two excellent exponents of the six string duties. Well done chaps.
After about a 20 minute swap around, the next band I see take to the stage. Luddite Bastard. Like Vile Assembly, I've not seen the Luddites play before and relatively shortly into their set I'm hooked and feel drawn closer to the stage. The Luddites do have a drummer and bass player and the volumes raises slightly as they erupt into life. The singer looks like he should he hanging out on a street corner, with his hoodie on and hand in his pocket but don't let that fool you. His vocal range is from full on death screams to melodic harmonies as the Luddites constantly shift gear from full on thrash to ska with differing tempos. All that in one song and on more than one occasion. A most enjoyable half hour or so of noise all fronted by the very animated singer, complete with jokes being told. Brilliant.
A quick shufty to the bar to grab my second pint of lager shandy, a few more hello's etc and then it's back into the main room just as the local 3 piece band inform us of their refusal into the US of A. It is of course, Mr Crud and Spam Javelin. Their short, sharp ditties soon have the punters cascading and weaving on the dance floor, hurling the odd plastic pint glass at Mr Crud (how very rude). In the melee a pint is spilt and soon mopped up by the cleaner but only after he has a little jig of his own to the Javelins. Having seen Spam Javelin play before and never disappoint, it was no surprise that they deliver another top drawer performance on stage. After hearing their CDs and watching them live, I'm still convinced that Crud is gonna rip his own throat out and chuck it at somebody and another thing that is evident is that these guys love what they do. In my honest opinion, one of the best bands on the DIY scene. Excellent drummer, excellent bassist oh and Mr Neil Crud on guitar and vox.
So now it's our turn. Dry Retch, obviously I can't review our performance so a guest writer is asked (bribed/coerced/held to gunpoint) to write a few words. Over to Neil Crud for a review of The Dry Retch.
"Like their name threatens, The Dry Retch are just that… a-dry-retch. They are fronted by the snarling Aussie-Scouser, John Retch, who was happy to wind the crowd up by insisting he was in Conwy Borough rather than Colwyn Bay (technically he was right).
They purvey a message of nastiness and slime through the medium of guitars, bass and drums. The likeness of legendary Australian band Cosmic Psychos was muttered in the crowd between songs. I’m pretty sure that’s an accolade The Dry Retch would take any day of the week… And yeah, there is a Stoogey-Cosmic kind of bad vibe running throughout their set. Highlight for me was the crunching sound of 12,000 Miles From New, the lead track off the Cultural Backslidin’ mini album that emerged in February. The drum-kit was battered to fuck by Wils while that hard-working bassist Dave did his stuff that allowed JP to whip out plenty of dirty licks over dirty riffs. For me, half an hour is long enough to watch one band. The Dry Retch procession lasted forty minutes and I didn’t want it to stop."
DLW back now and a quick breather, a cigarette and two bottles of water later, I hear Wayne from Hellfire Devilles start to slap his double bass as his band fill the room with their killerbilly sound. Hellfire have been getting a little bit of exposure here of late at Last Stop and rightly so. Different, unique and damn fun to watch. Again the punters are up for it. It's like a mini Dudley Arms reunion. For those that don't know, the Dudley was a pub in Rhyl that used to put on loads of punk gigs back in the late 90s and early 2000's. Anyway, rockabilly is alive and kicking in Colwyn Bay. The Devilles continue on from the last time I saw them, two weeks ago in Birkenvegas. Fun, entertaining and dragging you back kicking and screaming to the 50's. Only there are no teddy boy suits or quiffs. The Devilles hand out another solid set and draw you in, chew the brill cream cud then spit you out when they are finished!
Last band up were The Kingcrows who I never got to see as by now, I had to drive my ever so pissed mate home so apologies to them, also apologies to earlier bands that I didn't see due to my arrival time, Harrison Rimmer and Mammoth Tank but from all accounts, these guys nailed it too.
Punk rock and gigs are back! Zoe and the team at The Pavilion did an excellent job and it was a pleasure to play and watch the bands. A most enjoyable evening and remember.... support your local music scene.. or lose it. Your choice. Over and out. Stay safe.
Words: DLW/Neil Crud, Photos: DLW/Neil Crud/Rich Phillip/Mark John Simcock
Vile Assembly Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheVileAssembly
Luddite Bastard Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100036881545895
Spam Javelin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/spamjavelinuk
Dry Retch Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheDryRetch
Hellfire Devilles Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HELLFIREDEVILLES
King Crows Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kingcrows
Harrison Rimmer Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harrisonrimmermusic
Mammoth Tank Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mammothtankpunkrock