It’s a Halloween Party and everyone has come in fancy dress. We’ve come as gig goers. Most of the audience and all the bands have made the effort though and the Salty Dog is decked in Halloween themed furnishings.
Hummer are first up and dressed in garb ranging from a Vampiric take on Byron to a zombie Engineer (some say that Will the bass player came as himself…) the band set up on stage, line check for all of ten seconds and then like the well oiled machine they are launch straight into a 30 minute set of rapid fire pop-punk meets Motorhead via Stiff Little Fingers en route. Alternating vocals, great harmonies, bass runs everywhere and tight drums and guitar as ever, a particularly on form Hummer tonight (not that they ever go off form).
I’ve not seen Pardon Us for a few years (including the usual lengthy Covid gap). At first I think guitarist/vocalist Morgan has the most genuinely scary and creepy Halloween costume of all on (in fact so creepy I think its in bad taste) until its pointed out to me that he’s dressed as Groucho Marx and not Jacob Rees-Mogg as I’d first though. They are more of a Descendants derived pop-punk than say Hummer but its always aggressive and not light in any way. The drum machine, sorry drummer at the back is so tight the machine gun beats feels like an assault on the senses. With real musical talent and great songs delivered well (once the microphone problems at the start were overcome) Pardon Us politely storm through their set.
Kicked in the teeth start with a camped up version of YMCA. As they are attired as various members of the Village People this makes sense. As I’ve not seen these before I’m, wondering were it will go. I relaxed as were it does go is some fine hard and heavy fast punk played with real skill and delivered with the right amount of snarling venom. There’s fast and aggressive guitar riffs with bass and drums to match and the singer is in the audiences face in what would be (perhaps if he wasn’t dressed as a Village People Sailor) quite a scary manner. Musically they don’t wait for you to keep up and I bet they don’t take prisoners either.
Pizza Tramp are as much about a wild anarchic kick to the guts sometimes as they are about watching someone disintegrate alcoholically on stage. How much of this is pretend and how much is real I’m hard pressed to say but the result is always a mixture bold and humorous statements about racism, challenging Nazis and fighting the far right in politics and a nearly out of control rodeo ride of aggressive chords and powerful vocals with songs played at speeds that would defy most thrash metal bands. Tonight their bassist couldn’t make the gig so rentabass (or Will from Hummer as he’s known) has stepped in after learning the set from a Spotify playlist. He does a great job of keeping up and Pizza Tramp sound as vicious as ever.
Word and Photos: RBY
Pardon Us: https://www.facebook.com/wearepardonus
Kicked in the Teeth: https://www.facebook.com/kickedintheteethband
Pizza Tramp: https://www.facebook.com/Pizzatrampuk
Salty Dog: https://www.facebook.com/saltydogo
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