This show at Rough Trade East in the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane was the launch show for The Heat Inc. debut album Asleep In The Ejector Seat that's out on Punk Fox Records on the 28th July.
Walking to this gig from Aldgate station made me a bit nostalgic as we walked by where my dad was born, where one of my uncles was murdered, where Blooms and the Kosher Luncheon club among many other places used to be back in the old days, before getting into the part of the old Brewery that now houses Rough Trade East's record shop bar and venue. Having got our pints of Backstage I.P.A. we found ourselves in the gig space.
The Heat Inc. came on veiled in dry ice hoping that everyone present was going home with a Souvenir copy of Asleep In The Ejector Seat as they launched headlong into Souvenir with Jon Dodd stalking the stage as Marco Simoncelli's White Gretsch Falcon let rip squalls of notes.
After some introductions and thanks for everyone showing up it was time for a Little Knuckle Charlie that felt like lyrically it might have been inspired by local Cockney rhyming slang, as this dark tale unfolded, propelled by the crisp insistent drumming of Maurizio Vitale. Then they wanted to Draw Blood For Proof, while they searched for a suitable vein to use something went wrong with Marco's amp, as the guitar dropped out the rest of the band just carried on, making this a very bass heavy version as Nico Rigot really emphasized his parts and Jon worked the crowd to keep the momentum up.
Once Marco's guitar was back, we found out just what happened to Ms Willie Mae as the guitar flailed at the edges of the maelstrom being whipped up by Nico and Maurizio. Jon then insisted it was time for us all to Get Wild as he howled the lyrics, the rest of the band were having a total rave up full of precision tooled rhythms.
Finally the purpose of the camera Jon had slung round his neck became apparent on Polaroids, the first non-album track of the set, coming from the bands debut ep, as Jon started to snap away at certain points while as they got past the first chorus, the bands special guest Sir Terry Edwards wandered on, unleashing a mighty sax solo, this lifted things to even greater heights, as Marco and Terry traded licks and notes showered over us, towards a great squalling conclusion before Terry departed the stage far too quickly, while adding to the huge list of bands I've seen Terry Edwards play with over the last 30 plus years.
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What else could they play after Terry but Your After Love Song that still has a poignancy, for how you react once the spark has gone, but before you've recovered well you'll need a solid as hell bassline that felt like a heartbeat.
'98 as ever took us back to Jon's childhood home and asked those questions as to what happened in the garden, as this opened out it had a long instrumental freak out as they threatened to close the show, but instead launched into the bands always crisp and vital re-working of Suicide's Dream Baby Dream turning it into a great shout along anthem.
As they once again tried to say goodnight by playing the bands theme song Are You Incorporated? That asks lots of important questions while this intense garage rock mauler is chipping away at our ears, before finally closing the show with a taut run through Sammy Swings Easy a song that could easily be about any number of East End faces up to no good, certainly leaving everyone in rough trade east very happy.
After the set the band sat at the merch table for the album signing session and happily posed for Polaroids with the fans who had lined up with copies of Asleep On The Ejector Seat, no one fell asleep during this set that's for certain.
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