Contact
lenses in, shorts on in late September, double kneestrapped up… it must be a
Raze*Rebuild gig! Yup, for the 9th time of asking, a gig by
Swindon’s finest purveyors of blue-collar, popcore tinged rock’n’roll saw me
girdling my loins and preparing for my inevitable rocking out down the front. I
dunno, I might be 52 and with dodgy knees that usually scream, “enough!” at the
sight of a slightly askew paving stone, but give me a Raze*Rebuild gig and,
just like that sweat-drenched guy at the recent Martha gig, I’m bound to
totally lose my shit, there’s no pretending otherwise…! This one was an
auspicious occasion as well, being a CD Release Party for their new 4-track EP,
“The Interlude”, a collection of numbers that sees a pronounced development in
vocalist Si’s songwriting skills, a wider, more structured and epic
tempo-changing sweep and range to the new material, as well as finally
committing long-time “live” favourite “New Leaf” to record. Bound to be a good
one, right? Right!
A
trip up the hill, then a frustrating trawl around old town to find a working
cashpoint, saw me rocking up to The Castle for 8.15. Liam, stellar guest
drummer last time out, was hanging out with the R*R boys in the Castle beer
garden in advance of his sadly-clashing Vic gig with his usual band Hail, so I
joined in with the general piss-taking about his age, and obscure band rock
chat. First act on, Ant Willis, took the stage with a big acoustic and a Chilli
Peppers-like rap-metalesque number which thankfully proved to be an outlier for
his set. Formerly of local rock combo A Way With Words, he subsequently veered
into a more morose and bitter yet strident melancholic oeuvre, with “3 AM” my
personal favourite of his set. Not sure about the cover of “Can’t Help Falling
In Love”, but this was a decent enough start, despite some lyric “malfunctions”
along the way.
Next
up were The Harlers, which saw Raze*Rebuild drummer Jamie pulling a double
shift with this, his other band. Recently expanded to a 3-piece with the
addition of a bassist, their modus
operandi was hard-hitting, heavy riffing bluesy stoner rock, evoking desert
truckstop roadhouses and beer-soaked bar-room brawls. Even their purported
slower number, “The Devils Blues”, a more old-school bluesy Lightnin’ Hopkins’
style workout, was awash with snaking riffery and heavy, stomping drum
patterns. Now, if I were a fan of the likes of Tame Impala, The White Stripes,
Queens Of the Stone Age, early Led Zeppelin or even Hendrix, I would be
thinking right now that I’d just found my new favourite band. Unfortunately I
am not, of any of the above (“whaaat? Not even Hendrix, you bloody philistine?”
I hear you cry, dear reader… Yup, sorry, not even Hendrix…), so they left me
impressed, but largely unmoved. However, dear reader, if you are a fan of any
of the above, I urge you to check out The Harlers. You will find something in
their dark explosive riffery of considerable worth and value.
On,
though, to a band who’s so far in my wheelhouse that they might as well be
picking out matching curtains and soft furnishings (which I may well have said
before… and no apologies for that!). After The Harlers’ gear was finally loaded
away and a call to the band’s back rows made by the Hall brothers (Si finally
announcing in lieu of an absent Paj, “can anyone play bass guitar? It’s really
easy…!”), the full line-up assembled for the set, and I took a rather slippery
position, centre stage. The fist-pumping, tub-thumping, anthemic manifesto/
call to arms newie “Burden Of Youth” kicked things off impressively, and by
“Face For Radio”, next up, I was rocking out in my usual frantic way,
responding to Si’s trademark energetic, scissor-kicking, fiercely committed and
vein-bulging performance. After a huge, emotive and raw “Kat I’m Sorry”, a magnificently
ragged and frantic set highlight “New Leaf” followed, which, despite Si’s
comments about being, “old, sweaty and tired…” (him or me?) saw another
performance of ferocious fire and passion, and, as fellow R*R aficionado Paul
Carter grabbed hold of me towards its’ conclusion, also briefly saw a 2-man
moshpit with a combined age of 104!
“My
voice is going… we might have to do tomorrow’s performance via the medium of
mime…” deadpanned Si, before a ball-crunchingly heavy yet achingly honest and heartfelt
“Sand In The Petrol” led seamlessly into an unexpected and upbeat Husker
Du-like “All The Gear”. Again, all too soon, another incendiary performance
concluded with breathless compliments from Si, and newie “Poison Air”, all
angular tempo changes and stripped back middle 8, powering into its’ final
denouement, although the boys were persuaded to hold station for an unplanned
encore of “Back To The Fall”, which actually felt slightly understated for
them, but still a brilliant way to end the night’s entertainment.
Sweat
drenched and breathless, I was actually glad to have avoided doing myself a
mischief down the front – the floor was seriously slippery, so I did my best to
fool myself into thinking my right foot was concreted to the floor, in order to
keep it planted! Compliments to the boys, signed copies of the CD (which Si
pointed out to me featured a “thanks” namecheck for yours truly – thank you for that, gents, I’m seriously
flattered!) and sweaty farewells – including one to Mark Carter, an old Level 3
stalwart off to seek his fortune “Down Under”. Safe travels dude! Thus endeth another
superb Raze*Rebuild Castle night, and here’s to many, many more!
No comments:
Post a Comment