Dead Pets, Dangerfields, Cox @ The Dudley Arms, Rhyl

The Dead Pets

 {Reviewed by Steve Sync + Neil Crud}

(sync) You know you’ve been to a great gig when at the end of the night, you leave with a healthy ringing in your ears, and your clothing moist (from sweat, not sticky white love piss).
These ‘Punk In Drublic’ nights are getting legendary for being a great night out. I’ve turned up to a few of these over the last 12 months, and each one has been well attended and well enjoyed by the many gig goers looking for a well organised alternative Saturday night out. What makes these nights so special is the fact that this venue holds approximately 150 people at a push. So when this place is busy, you’re basically thrown together closer than you’d usually choose, drinking out of each other’s laps as it were (not physically, but I’m sure I saw a couple later on). The same amount of people in a larger venue like Blu, watching the same bands, wouldn’t have the energy or atmosphere that the Dudley provides.

As The Cox hit the stage, the live room in this venue started filling up, and up, and up, until it was full, in fact wall-to-wall. They blasted out their first number, and what a fucking great noise it was, loud, powerful, a bollock churning wall of sound pissing over the solid mass of bodies in front of them.
Every time I see The Cox, they impress me more and more, and they are getting better and better by the gig. They played a great set including everyone’s favourite ‘Nailbomb The Dancefloor’, then I discovered that this would be their last gig for a few months because Steve was going to University.
After the gig I asked Steve where he was going, thinking he would say London or somewhere down south, but he replied Manchester!!! Steve, it takes an hour and a half max to drive back from Manchester, don’t let this stop The Cox from playing more of these gigs in the near future.

I was impressed the last time I saw The Dangerfields (pic above) in the Dudley, and they matched my expectations again with a full on, tight as fuck performance tonight. Their Drummer-Singer was swearing and barking out insults in his broad Northern Irish accent to anyone in the crowd who wanted one, and his own band too. When the guitarist joined in taking the piss out of one gig goer, it all got a bit ‘Father Ted’ for me, crying with laughter as I tried to understand the bands insults.
As last time, near the end of their set, the drummer-singer asks if anyone can put them up for the night, so he doesn’t have to wake up next to these smelly bastards in their car, and tonight I think they were in luck as a girl went up to the stage to offer her services. The Dangerfields are on a 30-date tour at the moment, I haven’t got the dates but if you can get to see them, I would well recommend it.

By the time The Dead Pets came on, I had switched from drinking lager, to a thick blue liquor, usually used to clean combs, so apart from this band really going all out with their extreme entertainment and their full on front man who doesn’t stop moving and performing even in between songs, for as long as they played, and the brass section, I’d better leave Crud to fill in my blanks.

(crud) ‘Who’s gonna catch me?’ said the brash Dead Pets frontman in his gutteral Northern accent. It wasn’t a request but more of a challenge as he stood perched on the edge of the PA speakers. Without further ado he launched himself with a half somersault into the crowd while singing & was duly tossed around like a rag doll. This is my 3rd time seeing The Dead Pets, & the 1st time sober enough (almost) to take in what I was seeing.

Usually when I haul people out telling them this is a ‘must see’ gig, I’m left with egg on my face when the band will let us down. But not tonight, this was an onslaught from start to finish, not a foot put wrong, not a song too long, the whole purpose was entertainment & entertained we were.
From being a plod along opening shambles with an almost comedy element, The Cox (Leigh Cox pic above) have developed into a crowd pulling, professional tub thumping excellent outfit, epitomised by a packed crowd singing all their songs. This shows that if you are genuine, believe in what you do & are hard working, then the dividends do pay off. I’m trying to recall the last time I saw a local band have so much vocal support & probably have to go as far back as the Psycho Sexual Sex Terrestrials in their heyday (before they tried to be serious) to find anything near what we saw & felt tonight. I have a video of that PSST gig from 1992, the gig was just across the road at The Mermaid, the cameraman had to stand on a window ledge to avoid being battered by a crazed crowd, it was a great show & great fun. Tonight was one of those nights & they don’t happen that often; everyone was out for a good time & that’s what they got & that’s what its all about. Lets face facts, there’s no light show, projections, pyrotechnics or costume changes going on here, this is a punk rock gig in a grotty pub in a boarded up area of town. All there is on offer are loud guitars, excellent music & bags & bags of energy.

The Dead Pets are fucking superb, that’s the best way I can describe them, I saw my sister Jane [Crud] in town earlier on with boyfriend Steve F & convinced them The Dudley was the venue for them. They came, they saw, they bought the CDs & they’re still talking about the spectacle the next day. You see, the Dead Pets are a punk band, but with a saxophonist & trumpeteer thrown in, you get 100mph full on punk rock but there is most definitely a King Kurt & The Coral feel running through the sound as well (bizarre eh!). Add this to an anything goes attitude from the frontman & you have one helluva show on your hands. Like The Cox this is a hardworking band, unlike The Cox, The Dangerfields & The Dead Pets travel everywhere, play everywhere & are constantly gigging, building up that already very strong punk network that is thriving throughout the world. A network void of any corporate involvement, a network totally independent, totally underground, built on websites, flyers & CDrs, passed on by word of mouth by those dedicated few from each town who keep the whole scene alive and most certainly kicking. The Dangerfields are on a 30 date tour, The Dead Pets have been on tour for years & will spend June ripping the USA apart in their inimitable style. It’d be great to see one of our bands only once every six months because they’re away on tour.