THE KING BLUES
Chinnerys, Southend-on-Sea, Essex
Friday 26th August 2011
As a warm up gig for Reading and Leeds, The King Blues come on stage to a crowd who can’t quite believe their eyes, yet welcome them with all ears in a venue ready to burst. Opening the night with the track ‘The Last of the Dreamers’, The King Blues show their commitment to putting on a blinding show from the minute they get on stage, with haunting vocals drawing the crowd in from their pints then like a thunderbolt Itch crashes through with his spoken, searing lyrics followed sharply by ‘We Are Fucking Angry’. The ferocity of the deliverance leaves no one questioning just how fucking angry they are.
Southend really gets to see how well this tight, well-oiled unit can play, ploughing neatly through tunes from all 3 albums, such as 'Mr Music Man', 'Under The Fog', 'My Boulder' and 'Lets Hangs the Landlord', to name but a few. A heaving, jumping audience sing almost word for word, song after song, from the just over 14 year olds to the just under 60 years olds. This band have crossed the ages with a success rarely ever seen. Even when a technical fault with the bass threatens to dampen an already sweaty night, with pure professionalism Itch strikes up a solo Ukele trio of tunes including the much loved 'Out of Luck' to the delight of the swaying crowd. A short break in the proceedings and Jamie takes the chance to talk to the audience as he does like an old friend, although this is the first time The King Blues have played Southend, and maybe the first time some fans have seen them.
By the time the thunderous 'The Streets Are Ours' is played the crowd are bouncing up and down like a hoard of protesters around a samba band. It may have been said before but the music and energy that The King Blues creates every time conjures up the perfect soundtrack for the revolution, and so with the new Clash-stylee, drum and bass version of ‘Power to the People’ blazing through, The King Blues show just how their roots are still very much in Punk Rock.
Andi C
SWINGIN' UTTERS
London Camden Underworld
Sun 4th September 2011
Quite Early doors on this Sun 4th Sep; with a fairly big line -up. Catching a bit of The Exposed, it's good straight forward Punk Rock that leaves the crowd suitably impressed. I also catch Moral Dilemma, who are one of London's hardworking, hardcore Punk Rock bands, with good tunes with a fast delivery, they deserve to be much bigger. The members of this band seem to not only tour a lot, but also turn up to other bands' shows and support the scene.
The Underworld (or mini world tonight) is only 3/4 full, yet more than enough people to welcome back the Utters. With an outstanding brand new album on Fat Wreck, the Utters are back after a long hiatus, except for a comeback Barfly show last year. They've still got what it takes even though, like the name of the new release suggest, they do look like they are here 'Under Protest'. All Utters songs are like mini Ramones tunes, in a sense, not lasting for more than 2 and a half or 3 minutes.
Swingin' Utters formed in the late 1980's, originally from Santa Cruz, they were first known as Johnny Peabucks (A story in its self...) and Swingin' Utters' debut was called 'Scared'. They moved to San Fran, where they recorded the 'Streets of San Francisco', produced by Lars Frederiksen of Rancid.
With loads of new songs to air tonight, it is great when a few of the old classics from their past are aired - 'A Juvenile Product of The Working Class' and 'Wind Spitting Punk' are blasted out with pure passion. The Swingin' Utters have always been one of the best Punk bands from California's late 80's / 90's scene, first coming to these shores as Rancids support band, so they have still got a very loyal following from then. With intelligent and very clever lyrics, often with a McGowan / Stummer-esque poetic vein, they're pretty special. The other new tunes that stand out are 'Brand New Lungs', 'Bent Collector of 1000 Limbs' and 'Give it All to The Man'.
They also air some classics, like the punk anthem 'Catastrophe' and some great tunes from their '5 Lessons Learned' album, yet classics like 'No Eager Man' from 'The Streets...' album, really gets the eager crowd going, After a frantic hour set and a much happier looking Johnny Pee Buck singing (thanks too the amazing crowd and the band's musicianship) the group blast out one off their all time greats 'Next in Line' with lyrics ... like, "Out the back door and to the corner store - all I want is a drink and nothing more" - this comeback looks like it's here to stay. Swingin' Utters are a kind of Stiff Little Fingers / Clash meets The Pogues on the High Seas , for the 21st Century, with all the energy and passion to boot.. Looking forward to seeing them come back to these shores next year.
Andi C
