 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
 |
| FLOGGING MOLLY
THE BRIEFS DEAD PETS Academy 2, Birmingham - £10 29th April 2005 I was lucky to catch tonight’s gig as it was SOLD-OUT about a week before it kicked off. But luckily for me fellow Brief afficitonado Paul (Pistol Shots) and his bird Heather came to the rescue. They had 2 spare tickets goin and this was one gig I didn’t wanna miss (pheeewww!). It has been over 12 months since my last glimpse of these Seattle spiky tykes, and I was by now suffering from a severe deficiency of ‘Orange Alerts’ and ‘Mystery Pills’. With that in mind, I arranged to meet Paul and Heather in the Yard Of Ale bar, New St. at 4pm on this hot Friday afternoon. They had both travelled by train from Bristol and Edinburgh respectively. Which ain’t no mean feat by today’s jet setting punk standards? However they weren’t solely here to see the Briefs, they were also gonna catch Sunday’s big Academy In The UK punk all- dayer, which by all accounts wasn’t half as much fun, but that’s another story. Paul was telling me over a pint of Guinness he’d witnessed the Briefs a couple of nights ago in Exeter, which by his own reckoning “was fuckin’ superb“. Since Paul’s been tailing em on their various UK jaunts he’s got to know their Canadian bass player of over 12 months now, called Kicks. He arranged with Kicks at the Exeter gig to join us in the Yard Of Ale for a pre-gig drink. Well I must admit I had my doubts that he would show or even find this subterranean watering hole. But it looks like he had his road radar well primed today coz as good as his word, he rolled in with leather, a ‘Wednesday Night Heroes’ t-shirt and blond barnet, plus those regulation shades! Kicks reminded me of a young bleached Dee Dee Ramone. He was friendly, articulate and with no ego attached, which is always a good sign. It was interesting to meet the geezer who has stepped into Lance Romances creepers, while Mr Romance takes a sabbatical or GED as they call it in the States. Kicks was brimming with tour tales of mostly the positive kind that the band seems to get globally these days. However it ain’t all fun in England, coz he apparently spent 4 hours in the freezing cold on the streets of Sheffield after last nights gig getting lost. He was left traipsing the Yorkshire cobbles after being invited back to a party at a students gaff. However wine, women, and sex objects was a bit too much for the neighbours to handle, and the party got pulled and he was left to find his own way back to the bands pit stop. Oh well the trials and tribulations of life on the road eh. I spose it could’ve been a lot worse, he could’ve been stranded in Heath Town or god forbid Stoke!!! This nomadic lifestyle ain’t exactly something new for our intrepid Canadian bass player. He’s spent the last 12 months sleeping on other peoples couches in Seattle and in between touring the world with the Briefs. Having no American citizenship does that to ya. And fair play to him he don’t seem phased or fatigued by his itinerant plight, coz lets face it any punk would give their right arm to be doing something you enjoy and playing punk in an worldwide domain. There was also news of the band writing new material for a new album when they get back home, so the ammo is definitely not running out on the Seattle rip chords just yet. I asked him how it felt to be playing bass in possibly the best punk band on the planet at the moment. He just shrugged his shoulders not really believing it himself I reckon. After about an hour of drinking, taking the piss and reminiscing, Kicks had to get back for the sound check before we got him seriously pissed, so we bid him farewell. As he got up to leave and donning his shades, I shook his hand I told him “we were all pretty poor and weird in England y'know” which seemed to amuse him as he grinned like a Cheshire cat and headed back to the gig. We however were in no rush at all to leave, so bang goes my review again tut tut. I was meant to meet fellow Wolvo Punk Kev in here at 6 o'clock anyway. I’d enticed him over after singing the Briefs praises to him for the past 6 months. When Kev arrived we sorted out the ticket situation which we bought off Heather for a very generous £5 each. We then headed to the more expensive Scruffy Murphy’s (a poseur Rock bar) just down the road from the gig for acclimatization reasons. And also coz we had got the taste!!! When we did finally hit the gig we had to wade through a jam packed Academy crowd sandwiched together in the darkness. Apparently we’d just missed the delights of Yorkshires very own answer to Jerry Lee Lewis, otherwise known Sweeny Todd lead singer of the Dead Pets. And from what I gather, they put on another energetic performance in front of the sweaty throng. However I wasn’t that disappointed I missed em coz Iets face it I was here primarily for Dead in the suburbs! However Flogging Molly must be doing something right whoever they are? Coz I ain’t seen the Academy 2 this full since they started having smaller gigs here. And maybe the bigger room is a bit too cavernous at the moment, but I suspect they’ll be playing a bigger venue next time they hit Brum. Within perfect timing the Briefs came bounding out on stage and kicked off with the drum pounding killer track ‘Poor And Weird’, which was a fitting greeting for most of us present. And for the next 45 minutes the new kings of the Seattle punk scene played out all the snotty stage faves for all the lifeless suburbians in attendance. The sharp, fast, energetic grit of ‘Orange Alert’ hit us between the eyes and rubbed shoulders with the slightly sinister ‘Looking Through Gary Glitter Eyes’. The Briefs whatever you think of em are here to entertain us, and I for one won’t be asking for my money back! Stevie E. Nix sporting a dark blue ‘God Save The Queen’ shirt and Joe 90 shades, fitted the bill perfectly. Alongside Dan Travanti in his ill fitting schoolboy suit and with Kicks pounding his red fender, they were primed to dish out the snot. The crowd slowly but surely started to lap em up, which astonished me how long it took em!! Coz fer fucks sake we’re witnessing a class punk rock act here. And one that certainly overshadows tonight’s headline bland stage presence. However the Briefs didn’t seem quite as sharp as 12 months ago. These 45 minute support slots restrict em somewhat. Even so this is a band that knows their stage craft and delivers their razor sharp, precise, blasts of punk rock with skill. With their heads jerking in continuous motion as they machine gunned off the riffs they took on the form of 3 speed filled marionettes. They got their biggest cheer of the evening for their sarcy patriotic numbers. The hard working Dan Travanti gave us the hilarious ‘Were Americans’… and stupid!” which these geezers ain’t. And by the time that other Republican call ‘Destroy The USA’ got delivered by drummer Chris Brief on lead vocal, I think they all deserved a drink, so I gave a thirsty looking Steve E. Nix a quick swig of my pint in between verses. Time fly’s when your having fun and before we knew it they blitzed through their 45 minute set ending with the brilliantly addictive ‘Rotten Love‘. This song is a modern day classic in any era. I managed to salvage a signed poster via Kev from Steve E. Nix, plus grabbed their last t-shirt from the merchandise stall. Which is now currently my favourite item of clothing in my jaded flee bitten wardrobe. I asked Kev what he thought and he was impressed but didn’t rate em as much as the legendary Rancid gig we witnessed at the Foundry some ten years previous. And I had to agree, but he ain’t quite familiarized with their songs yet. Which will shortly be remedied you can be sure of that. Great band with a first rate attitude, and why they ain’t in the charts is enough to conjure up conspiratory theory’s all of their own? If you only watch one band this year check out the Briefs. They play the UK Wasted festival in a few weeks and are out on the Warped tour later this summer. Flogging Molly entered stage right and almost immediately got the by now bouyant crowd swaying up front with arms raised and mass singing from their enthusiastic ranks of fans. But from a first impression I didn’t really see what all the fuss was about? They came across to me as more of a bunch of indie rockers than a crew of punks. They didn’t really hit you on first sighting or sound like some bands do. But they delivered their folksy anthems with ease and confidence. However this kinda music ain’t really my thing and I quickly realised we wasn't witnessing anything special. It just seemed so tame especially after the snazzy blur of the briefs. So after some failed attempts at getting some decent shots of the band, my brain cells were rapidly deteriorating. I gave up the ghost after about 30 minutes and we retired to Scruffy Murphy’s finishing off the night in a drunken blur just making the last train home. Cheers to Heather for the tickets, Paul for the talcum powder, Kev for the lift home and not forgetting the Briefs for Lifestyles Of The Truly lazy!!! PETER DON’T CARE |
 |
 |