I was back down the Buffalo Bar on Friday night for another 'Some Weird Sin' night; a club that has quickly become one of the coolest little Friday night hangouts. This time as well as the three bands they had superstar DJ action from none other than Sylvain Sylvain of the New York Dolls whose short UK tour had ended triumphantly with a sold out show at The 100 Club on Thursday.
I managed to get in just before TABLE SCRAPS came on. They are a boy girl duo in the White Stripes mould. Yes, the girl plays drums standing up and the guy sings and plays guitar with an array of effects pedals to amp things up. They were fast and furious and full of energy from the opening blasts of the first tune.
I don't know what Sinking Ship he was singing about but they sound like they are about to find a decent sized following this being the band's first London show they just need a couple of good breaks. Even though he got all his venom and spite-spitting out lyrics about how he doesn't care what you say, it was clear they are totally committed to playing full on with loads of passion.
The next tune stole liberally from Gary Glitter's Rock & Roll Part 2 and as that familiar riff mutated slightly he was singing about being afraid of Vampires and it wasn't the blood sucking variety from the sound of it either. They then got totally bitter on a song about taking your love and planting it in the ground: yes he wanted to bury his ex and forget she ever existed. Whoa.
When the singer announced it was cover time, they launched full pelt into New Order's Blue Monday. It took the first lines of the lyrics before we all cottoned on and smiles broke out as they stuck the boot into it and turned it into a furious punk tune. They then finished their incendiary set with a song about international Love, well we all need some of that!! They also encouraged us to buy their Cassette! Cool!
Next on were THE HIP PRIESTS who look like the Black Label Society in matching biker style patch outfits and mainly with greaser hairdos. I had a good idea of what they'd sound like before they played a note and they didn't stray far from the blueprint of Biker rock thankfully not sounding like Black Label Society, however.
They play adrenaline-fuelled rock with lyrics shouted at us about how they were Gonna Do It and what was going to happen to Mother Superior. It had a bit of the Dictators about it. Even when they sung about Wrist Action it was like they were trying to give themselves blisters from going too fast.
By the middle of the set they were getting a bit sloppy and singing about whatever it was that happened last night when he rode his BMX to Gary's which I'm sure will go down a treat with a Biker rock crowd. It went down all right at Some weird Sin too. Soon enough they were chanting at us about "everybody go 'Yeah!'" but I was getting a little bored as they were pretty samey.
|
They got rid of my boredom by closing the set with a sloppy version of TV Eye which they dedicated to Sylvain Sylvain. It wasn't a bad version, just not a great one, but they also suffered from following Table Scraps who were simply far more exciting.
Headlining tonight were the RICKY C QUARTET who I owed a review to as the last gig of theirs I was at I managed to entirely miss them being too busy talking in the Alley outside the venue with one of the other bands on the bill. As the name suggests, they are a Quartet who play good old school (Canvey)estuary punk in the style of Dr Feelgood and Eddie & The Hot Rods.
I have no idea what any of the songs were called but they came at us fast and furious and Ricky never took his sunglasses off while bellowing at us. They were great fun throughout even when they were singing that "you can go to a now ex-partner." Ricky C gives off the air of someone who is totally at home on stage and had bags of charisma. I really liked the song about The Contact: it was them at their most Feelgoods-like before they were playing with the beast.
The new single sounded much like the rest of the set, a good garage rock song that was followed by a trip to Tropical City that was every bit as hot as it was in the Buffalo Bar. They had plenty of people dancing as Ricky sang about Make Believe and how he Can't Get Over You and they had some really good guitar solos in there as well.
They were winding to a close and singing about life and whatever hieroglyphics I have in my notes but sounding mighty good with it. They finished with a song dedicated to Sylvain Sylvain too. This time it was a Flamin' Groovies cover that I'll admit to not having a clue what about. I really only know 3 Flamin' Groovies songs. Still it was a damn fine tribute to Syl and a good set closer.
After the bands it was time for Sylvain Sylvain's DJ set where he made like Murray the K to hysterical effect in places as he made sure we knew the next tune was "Totally tits." My favourite bit was when he told us "This next tune is totally tits, it's time to Kick out the jams Motherfuckers with the MC5" just as T-Rex started to play!! It was funny and cool but slightly odd to hear a DJ talking and singing over everything. But still how can you complain about a club that gets Sylvain Sylvain in as guest DJ!
|
