This was a great mid-week triple treat or Three The Hard Way as the Blaxploitation style poster had it, either way it was three acts I've reviewed previously in one form or another.
We arrived just as opening act Dead Fun went on stage, the Finnish punks feature Anzi Destruction fronting them, who I last reviewed back in 2015 when his Black Dog Bias album came out, that was far more industrial than his current band, who are in the Dead Boys/Heartbreakers/ Stooges mould. They opened with Anzi singing, twisting and posing about getting Some Fun, from the off they were magnetic, they nailed this Smack classic.
The guitarist played two notes that were obviously going to be Sonic Reducer before some banter between the band to help them launch into Sonic Reducer playing it far more in the Dead Boys style than Pere Ubu, but with the odd nod to Rocket From The Tombs version, Anzi was throwing every Stiv Bators and Iggy move he could think of, it was a brilliant sing along. They had Fuel To Burn along with some gloriously scuzzy guitar lines.
They paid their first tribute to Uncle Charlie with a great take on Down Here On The Farm that added some extra sleaze to it. Mirror Mirror seemed to reflect the notion that either Anzi or his bass player would spend eons gazing into the mirror, figuring out who was the fairest of them all. Neat Neat Neat was taken at suitably breakneck speed.
I think it was before Do Whatever You Want To Do that the Guitarist gave us a speech in Finnish, that I roughly translated on the lines of, "We are the hardest riffing Finnish act since Peer Gunt," either way the tune was a great manifesto for life. They went back to The Dead Boys for a tasty version of I Need Lunch with Anzi singing part of it in the audience.
I guess the new song they played was called Rock Baby Roll it had another scintillating solo before they closed there set with a cover of the Demolition 23 classic Endangered Species that followed that arrangement, rather than the UK Subs original one it was a great opening set.
Next on were new band of 2024 Split Dogs who we were seeing for the 4th time this year and on each occasion, they have upped the level of intensity and just how tight and powerful they are, from the start they rampaged out the gate on Stay Tuned, you could hardly take your eyes off what Harry Atkins was up to as she shook shimmied and twitched all over the place, Animal had some super speedy and taut guitar from Mil Martinez.
Harry took off her Simpsons T-shirt to reveal her Flapper style dress that was super tight like Suez Boyle's bassline was on Gutterball, the furious lyrics flew at us and Harry was all over the stage pulling faces and poses. Harry then asked if we would all Be A Sport for her, well of course anything she wants, Chris Hugall's huge spirited drums nailed everything down.
Harry had some very evocative moves for Cattle Prod and the ideas for where to stick it, the hard-core intensity ramped up. I have in my notes that the next song was Fashion Bitch with Harry letting rip on anyone in the latest labels. Harry then asked who in the room have ever had VD no one answered so she called us all liars, before they rampaged through Why Does It Burn or should that be Precious Stones either way it is the centre piece of any Split Dogs show and this was a brutally brilliant version.
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Prison Bitch is what Harry wants to make you into, so you'll be her sex slave, she has the movements to go with it. Mil's guitar was so fierce on Feeder it was like he was ramming burgers down your throat. Like normal Harry dedicated Meg to Jason Statham and that monumental flop, they destroyed everything in sight, with crushing riffs and a solid bass groove.
And What is of course the perfect reply to any threat from someone with the temerity to call out Harry, or any member of Split Dogs, you know the idiot will be cowering at the retribution being threatened. Harry then attempted to Tear Down The House with more squats and shakes than most front people manage in an entire tour.
That just left them enough time to pulverise our ears with Punch Drunk that left everyone wanting more from Split Dogs, I can't wait to hear the bands next album that's due out soon.
Desperate Measures then had the un-enviable task of trying to follow two great bands, from the get go Eugene Butcher was giving it everything he had on Scars & Memories with Michael Gaffney ripping it up on guitar.
Pocket was driven speedily along by James Sherry's drumming, Eugene made clear that Sublime Destruction was the title song of the bands last album, new bassist Phil Roadkill nailed down the bassline while throwing some cool poses.
Eugene acknowledged what a dark day it was for many, dedicating the Rich-Tual to Donald Trump, who's been getting away with all sorts of horrors, shards of notes blasted away at us. Untouchable had some cool guitar twists from Gaff.
Eugene dedicated Lost Angels to Robin Guy the legendary Rachel Stamp drum god who left us recently. They then laid Flowers At Your Door, a way to win you back, after you've walked away from them, it was as sensitive as they get.
Eugene took us back to the band's roots in New Zealand for 1984 back when a Nuclear war seemed just around the corner, like sadly it almost does again now in 2024. They cheered things up for Enjoy The Ride, James drums had a perky edge to them. The bands centre of operations was celebrated on Seven Sisters.
Back To The Rat is always a high spot of the bands sets, this was no different. Eugene then invited Anzi and Harry onstage to join them for I Wanna Be Your Dog but the first special guest on stage was actually Andy Turner from Instigators! The riff and tune got going with first Anzi and then Harry joining in the fun, they rampaged through The Stooges classic to close out a great night’s music.
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