This show was Barnet Marks birthday bash and as befits one of the legends that helped run the 12 Bar club, it's a 4-band bill of punk bands some of whom are warming up for this year's Rebellion festival.
First on were Profile 21 who I can find nothing about online, other than they may have been named after a type of urinal, so everything about them is guess work, apart from they had three members and apparently for the drummer it was his first gig with them. They opened with 1 2 3 Radio Waves that has a good catchy chorus with the bands post-punk early Wire meets coherent The Fall type sound.
They were soon celebrating Getting Out Of My Head again as what else would you do on A Friday Night. I loved the bands anthem for being a punk in Bromley and dreaming of ending up in LA as it name checked a few members of the Bromley set.
In among the short sharp spiked angular guitars, they were singing about being Fucked Up again, before taking us on a grand tour Punk style to The Chelsea Hotel and Paradisio among other venues and places they namechecked.
Midnight Eternity it never seemed to end, as they Don't Know How that had some gruff advice for us all, they wished Barnet Mark a happy birthday by way of intro for March Of Time that was thankful for still being here in the 2020's before they closed with the relief they feel that they are Still Breathing and able to come out and play cool sets like this one was.
Next on were 16 Guns a band I have been seeing on and off for a very long time now, they were great fun despite the broken arm Paul was playing with, they opened with the melancholic slow Evil Man with all his mind games, no it wasn't slow, it was sped through like the sulphate was still running through them.
Tom welcomed us all as they blasted through Friend Or Foe as if they were still being chased around Wales. James Bond was greeted as the classic it is, while they joked between songs about how they were trying to slow down, this was still played at ten to the dozen, Chris' bass led the charge through Cracked as Tom shouted the lyrics at us.
It was time to beware of the Killer as he's on the loose again, C29 was greeted by a good-sized cheer and the near break out of a mosh pit in time for Private 999, they seemed to be getting even faster rather than slowing down.
Tom made clear the next song was in fact a True Story of more rum goings on in the 16 Guns camp before they got all militant shouting Can't Pay Won't Pay that certainly didn't please the bar staff or the door staff as they wanted us all to pay. They made fun of anyone chasing Punk Rock Stardom as they would rather just keep playing and having a great time with all their mates who still show up 40 years later.
Liar took aim at all those lying scummy politicians, before they delivered a message they truly believe in Feed The Paedophiles To The Sharks that has all the bile and hatred those scum deserve while name checking a few of the more infamous ones.
They closed this nifty set with a 200 mph blast through Johnny B Goode although they didn't make Paul do too many Guitar gymnastics on the solos.
Then it was time for the birthday boy Barnet Mark to enter the fray with his band The London Sewage Company who opened with I'm In Trouble that is an apt theme song for these miscreants, Las Vegas Girl shook and shimmied across the stage while Pete and Mark's guitars amped things up nicely.
They got all nostalgic on Where Have All The Toy Shops Gone wistful for the pre-internet glory days. I think Pinch Harder was the song Barnet introduced as being from the forthcoming second album due out in 2027 or so, that Noel Martins drumming sounded properly menacing on.
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All the glam they could muster came our way on I Wanna Be a Film Star although unclear if Barnet saw himself as an action hero or romantic lead. They were still dreaming of Palm Trees in Peckham that had a honking great harmonica solo in it.
They paid homage to the bands spiritual home and somewhere most of this audience loved going to on 12 Bar Night, that celebrates the venue and the legendary bands that played there, it was in the true rough and ready 12 bar spirit.
Standby For Action get everyone going and had a great solo from Pete. Kreuzberg celebrated having great fun nights out in Berlin while Barnet advertised the bands new years eve gig there opening for Menace who also feature Noel Martin, in that case as front man.
All our glam rock youths were made real on Memories Of Slade that allowed Mark on guitar to go all Dave Hill for us as he had on his Slade t-shirt.
Just Because has something in brackets in my notes that I can't make out as they were romping through the set by this point, Bridget then showed up, she's a midget transvestite from the bands early single, sounding as good and sleazy as it should. They closed with Night Of A Thousand Beards a song that may have been inspired by Willie Nile singing House Of A 1000 Guitars at the 12 bar club, either way Barnets kazoo solo really helped make this a great ending to a brilliantly fun set.
That only left time for Acton's finest The Satellites a band I don't think I've seen live before, although I can't believe that as I have been to more than enough gigs promoted by Derek Gibbs and Mannie Zerafa from the band over the years. This explains why I am guessing at all song titles here.
They opened with Best Friend a good ragged around the edges song of Punky friendship that allowed Roger Millington's bass to really start rumbling. Derek welcomed us all as they got properly frenetic on I'll Be. Windscale Boy took us back to the threat of a nuclear winter with sentiments that seem to be returning in the last couple of years.
The kinetic fun edge shone through as Derek sang about an Oil Rig not set up in Acton surely not. It might have been High Rise Hillbilly next either way they were shaking the place down nicely.
The bands 1983 single Nightmare sounded as dark and disturbing as it should and was followed by its b-side New Holy War that still seems to be rumbling on 40 years later sadly, it brilliantly broke down in the middle for a few bars of International Harvesters Ho Chi Minh.
They then closed the set with the bands first single from 1980 Urban Gorilla that may have poked fun at Jesse Hector as Eeyore In The Uk blasted at us.
They came back for an encore that opened with them going properly Bananas before Derek and the boys finished the evening off with Let's Rock and they and all the other bands had indeed rocked us, I look forward to seeing them again at Rebellion in a couple of weeks' time.
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