Dangerfields, Stuntface, Kneejerk @ Dudley Arms, Rhyl
(review n pix neil crud)
The 17 & 18 year old Japanese sisters both peeled their underwear off in front of me and seductively beckoned me to join them on the black silk sheets, oh shit, sorry… wrong review.
Steve Sync was all for a Wetherspoons onslaught and legging it over to catch Stuntface, still feeling giddy after my kitchen floor experience 3 weeks ago (see review) I favoured a more sedate evening of punk rock. We compromised & found common ground with a swift pint of cider at The Swan before heading for the Dudley to be molested on the way in by the bouncer, who obviously takes his job far too seriously. The Dudley has a reputation for being the roughest joint in town & yet its probably the only place where you’d be hard pressed to find weapons or drugs.
Kneejerk were given just under an hour’s notice they were playing after Hektor pulled out because Dave Cox was arrested outside the town hall bogs for soliciting. Had Kneejerk been given more time they’d have brought another 100 people with them, as a result though they had to make do with a lower turnout; after all, Friday is the new Wednesday in Rhyl. This is their 4th or 5th gig I think & if I was to be cynical I’d say they should be locked away & told to rehearse for 6 months before playing. But the cynic in me was being chatted up by the town hall bogs tonight & left me free to enjoy Kneejerk for what they are; good fun, totally relaxed with what they do in a couldn’t give a shit if you like us or not attitude, totally out of time & that’s why I like them.
I tightened the tourniquet around my arm & pumped up a vein, stabbing at it with my syringe I pressed down the plunger & injected myself with Stuntface. This is the 6th time I’ve seen these dirty punksters from Wrexham & it was probably the best I’ve seen them, although every set has always been a hard one to follow. Fast, furious and fun – it’s a fun evening & even Katy raised a smile after being fisted by frontman Wayne (you had to be there!). There is no let up with this band & I had to chuckle into my campari & soda at Sync totally into the band while his Ultravox collection sits proudly around his hi-fi at home. With everyone singing along to the songs, you get that feeling of seeing history happen before your eyes was very evident tonight & I discussed it in my office (the Dudley toilets) with a punter who said it would be a shame when Stuntface start playing to a couple of thousand people as they’ll lose that personal touch. My comments were that these guys will never forget they have holes in their arses, or was it they are arseholes? Probably both.
Just when you thought it couldn’t get faster, up pop Belfast’s Dangerfields. With a reputation for turning up half an hour before they’re due on stage, plugging in & playing that’s just about what they did. The result was intense but again – fun! With a singer-drummer who played the 3 piece kit with such fury that the poor thing was shagged out by the end & a set that was awesome, this is a seriously fucking good band. They were not afraid to give the hecklers in the crowd some good stick back – oh shit that was me! Somehow I don’t think Dangerfields will be writing a long letter of complaint about ‘the reviewer’ shouting abuse at them (remember the Find gig a couple of years ago?). I almost went down the road of comparing them to Ash as they have a female bassist, but that would make me a bigger tosser than I already am, but I will say that there should be more girls in bands, Dangerfields have their bassist, Kneejerk have their drummer & Stuntface are just a bunch of girls anyway!
Hope The Dangerfields had a great gig the night after at the Old Hall, which I’m sure they did, check out their 7″ EP ‘No Respect ’til Belfast’ on Ruptered Ambitions Recs. Managed to skank a Kneejerk t-shirt off one the band & promptly got it covered in Gino’s pizza on the way home.