Back in March, I went to see Bob Mould, and in my t-shirt post wrote:
“First up are Pabst, a German band that sound like Manic Street Preachers jamming with Nirvana, with Budgie’s Burke Shelley on vocals. After a couple of songs, I’m convinced. ‘Shake The Disease’ I remember as being particularly good, and I regret not buying their shirt and CD. Hopefully they’ll be back.”
They were, and I did!
Also on the bill were Final Coil, who were a shirt last month, and the headliners: Shonen Knife. Shonen Knife is a Japanese three-piece punk band. One of those bands I was aware of but had never (to my recollection) seen or heard. So when the gig was announced I pulled them upon Spotify. I tried to listen, I really did! I just couldn’t get past the singer’s complete inability to hit a note. Any note would do, I was prepared to accept that notes in the key of the music would be a bonus, but no… So I gave up and this became the first ever gig where I bought a ticket not expecting to stay to the end. When the opportunity to have a drink with some friends that night arrived, then it was definite - the first gig I went to knowing that I would not see the headliner.
The Camden Underworld is the basement of The World’s End in Camden, opposite the tube station. It’s dark, sticky, and charges £5.50 for a bottle of Trooper. The latter puts it head and shoulders above ‘better’ venues that charge the same amount for all sorts of drinks but not beer. Another nice aspect is that you get to meet the acts, as the merch tables are in the bar and generally staffed by whichever of the band is available, or one of their mates. In the breaks I got to meet both bands and do my usual thing of babbling how much I liked their music, and not actually saying anything useful.
Final Coil started the night and played another great little set. All the things I loved about them in February were reinforced. Great songs by Phil Stiles, played with complete dedication; the twin vocals threading around each other and some damn fine guitar work from Richard Awdry. But it’s mostly Jola Stiles’ bass sound, with that little bit of crunch like an elephant on a gravel path. They played a healthy chunk of the new album and some of the first, and cemented their current favourite prog. band status.
Pabst came on stage looking nervous. Their second London show and they seemed less confident than last time. I’m not sure I helped by yelling that I’d seen them with Bob, but at least it showed they had a friend in the crowd. The band is classic power trio: bass and drums providing a platform for processed guitar and vocals. The songs have a clear vein of sardonic humour running through them and some killer couplets. Along with the album tracks we got the new single ‘Forever OK’ and a new pro-drug song: ‘Paracetamol’. My favourite track, though, is still the shambolic Manics-esque ear-worm that is ‘Shake the Disease’.
At one point Erik jumped of the stage and proceeded to run around the audience, eventually grabbing onto me. Which was kind of embarrassing, as a) I was carrying my work lap-top and wanted to get it home in one piece, and b) my knee, which has been hurting since the wardrobe incident in January was hurting like hell, so there was no way I was going to jump around like an idiot, despite desperately wanting to. Luckily a trio nearby started dancing around and saved the day (there’s video of this on the band’s Facebook page).
They finished all too soon and by 9pm I was out the door and it all felt very weird to be leaving so early. But the evening was an incentive to do the exercises and fix this knee, so that next time I’ll be ready…
