It says:
A big Tom Robinson introduction preceded the arrival of Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Robinson seemingly the most excited person in the room (his enthusiasm side-stage for Snapped Ankles didn’t go unnoticed either!) Opener ‘GNT’ is volatile – we expected it to be loud, but bloody hell! Frontman Matt Baty stands barefoot, shirt open, eyes open, howling to the back of the room. Guitarist Adam Ian Sykes stands tall, observing the crowd, with hair across face and wide-eyed, horror movie stare. He raises his pint in appreciation on occasion, but rarely shifts his 70’s horror demeanour.
How was the rest of it then? In a word: brutal. From their new LP ‘King Of Cowards’, the mammoth ‘Shockmaster’ is pulverising, the bass bursting through the speakers, so much so that a lad in front had his fingers firmly in his ears. So loud that confetti stuck in the rafters slowly came floating down bit by bit throughout. As I ‘woo’, I physically feel the sound and rumbling energy fly in and out of my mouth, unexpected and uninvited, the crushing noise defeating. I spy the light of someone’s phone and realise it’s only been about 10 minutes, but in the deafening yet glorious wall of noise, it feels like we’re an hour deep.
Baty tells us that 6 Music gives them the feeling of being “legitimate pop stars” and they’re thankful for being in the leagues of such contemporaries as “Bomfunk MC’s.” At their set’s end, they announce one more song – “…it’s a long one.” We’re told that through the release of ‘A66’, the road itself has become much safer, which we should be thankful for. No thanks required for the filling-loosening gnarliness that follows, with their raucous performance ending when the guitarist hands his guitar out to someone in the front row who, fair play, riffs like a bastard. Sykes sips his pint and looks on with *almost* a smile.
See the post here: Birthday Cake For Breakfast
Amazing photo (from the Scala) by Jose Ramon Caamano
---
