Live Review - The Sonics, Kentish Town Forum, London, March 21st 2008

If I was a bit smarter, I would have taken a camera to The Sonics' first ever gig on European soil last Friday... but this wasn't ever going to be a night of being clever-clever was it? So I'll just have to give you a picture of The Sonics that you've probably seen a million times.

Another thing I'll say, before I start dissecting the gig is that I've decided to keep this gig as a separate entity
from Le Beat Bespoke 4, of which this was the grand opener of... although I will be mentioning it in passing.

So, for those that don't know (although I'm pretty certain most Electric Roulette readers do), The Sonics were the toughest, weirdest, loudest, screamin'-est band on the planet once. They took icepicks to their amps to make everything louder... and listening to tracks like Psycho and Strychnine, you'd be forgiven if you thought Gerry Roslie, the singer, had taken an icepick to his trachea too. However, that was the 60s and this is some considerable time later... could they match the 40-odd year build up of expectation?

Kentish Town forum is a decent little venue. It was a pretty enough place inside... inasmuch that it looked like an old run down theatre. It had certainly seen better days, but it was my kinda dive. Unusually for a big square room, it was flanked by three bars. I suppose this was a truly garage punk thing... the venue was determined to get you plastered.

The buzz of excitement around the venue in the lead up was probably the most impressive I've ever been part of. Grown men, who have seen it all before, nervously giggling and hopping around enjoying minute silences before bursting "WE'RE ABOUT TO WATCH THE SONICS!" The crowd made for an interesting spectacle in its own right. The bars were rammed with mods AND rockers, none of them tough enough to start battering each other on this away day Bank Holiday trip... with the mods missing the irony of their sniggers towards the bequiffed ones. Record collectors were out in force as were the NuGaragers, which basically means kids in drain-pipe jeans and back combed Bauhaus hair. Still, everyone was here to have a good time... and regardless of what happened, at least we didn't have that cunt Pete Doherty on the bill like those poor fuckers too slow on the uptake on Sunday.

On with the show... I've kept you waiting long enough.

The support acts came and went. The first lot, The Good Time Charlies, were a crap cross of Manic Street Preachers and Green Day and the second band, who cares what they were called?, were some Euro-mod sorts doing mod covers and generally irritated my teeth to ground pepper. Seeing as this was the most important garage punk gig that had ever taken place on these shores, it certainly seemed like organisers simply couldn't be bothered to find out some decent bands to do justice to a gig that clearly meant more to us than it did to them.

Then, after pissing about waiting, The Sonics walked on stage to some seriously deafening applause. The atmosphere was so intense that you could have struck a match in the air and watched the vapor explode. That guitar sound hunched over everyone, scowled, started to feedback, raised a claw then knocked everyone over like dominoes with the riff of 'He's Waiting'. 100mph start... and yup, these old guys dressed all in black, were in London taking names. And guess what? The screaming was gooo-oooo-ood.

The set blistered through Strychnine, Have Love Will Travel (which was met with a predictably riotous response from the entire contents of the building including stationary objects), Louie Louie ("we're going to play rock 'n' roll's national anthem"), Shot Down, Maintaining My Cool, Boss Hoss, Like No Other Man, Money, Lucille, Cinderella, Dirty Robber, You've Got Your Head On Backwards... you get the idea. The best two tunes of the evening, both in crowd response and performance were Psycho and The Witch. Psycho, at times, was completely terrifying, with demented screams and howls coming from the contorted Roslie who was possessed by his younger self, with shoulder cocked like a trigger and his throat producing broken glass. Larry Parypa gunned down front and back of house with ferocious guitar work... which he can whip into shape as good as he ever did. Rob Lind, 'im on sax, provided that rasp that give the ground that full audio assault.

By the time the band had mugged the wallet of Louie Louie in the encore, it was time for The Witch. Now, these old buggers had been on stage for a while now and it was way past their bed-time... it was gonna fall flat wasn't it? Still. We'll cut 'em some slack. I mean. Who would have ever thought that we would be lucky enough to actually watch The Sonics live and in th... WAAAAAAAAAHOOOOOOO - cue bedlam.

Defying everything I'd thought about the gig (that The Sonics were going full tilt), it seemed that they'd managed to store up enough energy to really dish up some sonic savagery. The Witch was brutal, coarse, mental, twitching, incredibly loud and aggressive. No lies here... it was probably the greatest moment of any gig I've ever been too. So hot was the belting of The Witch that people in the front row started to spontaneously combust, with the people at the back toppling inward like dried skeletons whilst everyone in the middle had a mini-riot and screamed along until their voices snapped and lassooed round each other, leaving everyone in some tangled blooded knot. With that, The Sonics hollered farewell and left everyone with their various injuries.

The main drawback of the gig was completely the fault of the organisers. Awful Austin Powers styled graphics cluttered up the screens and behind the band themselves could be found a Powerpoint presentation of Sonics related things. See that picture I used up top? That was on. So was a photo of a Norton re-issue of a single. There were pictures of the band with 'The Sonics' written under them in the first font found by whoever made the shoddy backdrop. It's clear that this was a show that wasn't put on by someone who really loved the band... or garage punk for that matter. How so? Well, how about picking a DJ with a record collection so limited that he resorted to playing Sonics records before... uh... you geddit don't you? Any other songs heard could be found on CDs 1,2,3,4 of the Nuggets boxset. Lazy gits. There was no thought or love gone into making this gig feel as special as it clearly was.

Thankfully, some bone-idle and thought-free organisers couldn't dampen what was a truly incredible gig. I've got a feeling that the Sunday gig will be the one most talked about thanks to it's line-up (that Mojo clearly put together and pulled the strings for), but the Friday might just have been the most important gig of my... and many others... life. Not only did those assembled see The Sonics... THE FUCKIN' SONICS MAN!!!... but we saw 'em before anyone else on British soil. They thanked us for being so kind... but I'll throw it back in their face. I don't want their thanks... this whole thing was my chance to say thank you to the greatest rock 'n' roll band who ever did live... and give thanks we all did. Best. Gig. Ever.

Mof Gimmers (who you can trust because he paid for his ticket like everyone else)

Comments

[Murray]

Man, out of the reviews I've seen so far THAT was the most spot on. The Sonics were great. (I knew they would be as I'd seen them already in New York last year.) And, yes, everything that was wrong with the two gigs was the fault of the organisers - letting the in-house sound guy work the desk rather than get someone in who understands rock'n'roll, the very average DJ, the less than average support groups... I wish the Sonics gig had been put on by the same people who gave us The Monks a year and a half ago. There you have people who are really into garage-punk rather than a bunch of mod poseurs jumping onto a bandwagon for their own financial gain.

[Rob Bailey]

Hello Again Mof,

I would like to suggest that you do a bit of research before you make statements about who arranged the bill (nothing to do with MOJO) and graphics amoung other things before you put your pen to paper or finger on keyboard. Constructive critisism is very welcome always want to improve!
Thanks Rob Bailey
Organiser of Le Beat Bespoke & very honoured to have organised the first ever Sonics show outside the USA.

[East London]

What a shit review. Lazy writing at its worst. No research, generalizations, crass commentary, cliche laden and frankly boring. I don't actually think you were there, you just wished you were. Don't give up the day job! Oh, you did already? Mug. Trust you? Don't make me laugh....

[Nish]

Mof Gimmers....youre entitled to your opinion, but for the record, we f*cking Hate both the bands you small mindedly compare us to... we felt just as priveledged to be supporting the Sonics as you were watching them....

[zeevar]

Hey Brains, the back visuals were the result of a liasion between the bands manager (who I have a sneeking suspision loves the band) & who made the presentation slides & the lighting guy (who I know loves the band).It was ment to be simple (like you) and not detract from the band. Any other glitch was down to the venues poor equpment. Chill & dont take life to analy.

[Murray]

"Shit review"? The review rated the Sonics very highly. What's so shit about that? Suggesting that the DJ and supports could have been better is a valid opinion. As for the visuals, they could've been better, they could've been worse. The main point of the review is about the Sonics - and, in case you didn't notice "East London" the review ends with the words, "Best. Gig. Ever." So, not really so crass at all...

[Coleen Wilhelm]

Thanks for giving such a great review of the Sonics.
I was in London and as the wife of the bass player I totally agree with your sentiment of the band.
I must say that promoter Rob Bailey was fantastic. There couldn't have been a more positive,supportive person to handle this show. He went above and beyond anything we could have expected. Our hat is off to him !!
He made our stay there the best experience ever.

[Murray]

"There couldn't have been a more positive, supportive person to handle this show."

I'm sure there could be someone that could do a better job, to be honest... But at the same time I think, despite the criticisms, we should still commend Mr Bailey on getting them over here.

[Keith ( CK )]

F*cken hell ..Mof ,i have never read such a negative writer as your self.The show was outstanding , you never botherd to listen to the whole DJ's set but then again you need to take a good look around at the mixed crowd .Sounds to me your stuck in the 1980's with the whole Mods & Rockers thing , get over it and move along eh ?? The Sonics are massive on the European rock'n'roll scene but as your an expert you would already know that right ?
Sounds like sour grapes on your behalf for some reason .The SONICS kick arse , simple . Top show Rob , well done!

[mof gimmers]

Keith. You sure can type, but can you read? I'll give you some quotes from the review above.

"No lies here... it was probably the greatest moment of any gig I've ever been too."

"...a truly incredible gig."

"...Friday might just have been the most important gig of my... and many others... life."

"Best. Gig. Ever."

Mof Gimmers

[Leo]

Some good points and bad points here , yeah the Sonics were truly amazing ! Unreal , beyond our wildest dreams . There was a very good mixed crowd and i thought the DJ was spot on between the acts , nothing to obscure which was right for such a huge event.
Hat's of to Rob Bailey and the New Untouchables for making this all work out and giving us a real crazy party !Roll on next year !

[Murray]

When all is said and done, the Sonics were great but let down by the sound engineer. As for the festival, I'd rather go to one of the festivals in Spain or Holland where they REALLY know how to party.

Keith sure can type? Eh? Yeah, he types like someone for whom English is a second language! Ha ha! But then that's typical of most of those who are "on the rock'n'roll scene".

[jon]

Good night.You cant please everyone.The sound was a bit duff but at the end of the day we saw the sonics.After show party was great almosphere and good to catch up with old mates from the rockin crowd who supported the gig well.I resent the last comment about rockers being a bit dim. A few knobbers like all scenes but we made up at least 50% of the crowd!were not all thickos you know!

[Paul]

"It's clear that this was a show that wasn't put on by someone who really loved the band"

The slides were put together by a good friend of theirs who travels with the band (I met him in NYC.) Get your facts straight before you go making assumptions.

Glad you enjoyed it, though.