Star Fucking Hipsters, Moral Dillema, 2 Sick Monkeys, Dead Subverts @ The Star & Garter, Manchester
(review by dave cox)
What a fuckin weekend! Too much going on in 4 days (and not enough going on upstairs, because of it) for me to write an intelligent, MWJ “dictionary.com” style review. Opt for list of thoughts/memories instead.
4:23pm- catch train from Colwyn bay billy no mates as no ones up for Manchester tonight. Sam from Impaled Existence at c/bay train station is a bonus as he’s goin to shotton on the piss. We have a laugh/ chat with the help of 4 cheeky cans of “hairy teeth” strongbow, which get me well on my way. arrive at the star and garter about half an hour before the doors open, an get chatting to dave from east London, he’s been long distancing it on cheap but ridiculously long bus journeys all day and tells me tomorrow he’s going up to Glasgow to see star fuckin hipsters again, before flying back home. Fair doos.
Doors open, dean (slit promotions) is looking a bit anxious, i read a myspace bulletin saying if there was a shit turn out he’d probably top himself! Thankfully he hasn’t yet as he’s a good bloke, all be it extremely brave, putting on 3 big names in 6 days, I’d fuckin shit my mingin, crusty kecks if that was me, although I suppose its abit easier to pull off in a city like Manchester where theres a bigger punk scene than somewhere like north wales…? I said bigger, not better 😉
An so its on with the first band, DEAD SUBVERTS. These boys from Cornwall(?) have helped us (global parasite) out loads with their label (pumpkin records), compilation cd’s and gig contacts. Proper fuckin diy band these with a well good attitude, how it should be. Much respect. Never seen them play before but blown away by how good the drummer is, reminds me of ton (minus nine lives/stuntface) but with loads of blast beats thrown in for good measure. Really chanty hardcore punk with something to say as an added bonus. Songs like “Taking Civil Liberties” and “You Call This Civilisation?” were slapped in ya face like nobodies business, an the songs ive not heard before were just as ferocious. They invite stza (leftover crack/star fuckin hipsters) on stage for a beer bong, cue video evidence…
All good stuff.
Next up 2 SICK MONKEYS. was given a demo by these a while back in Morecambe (possibly 2003), but shamefully, never actually listened to it, I tried finding the demo recently but it seems ive lost it. dickhead. Theyre ace, they consist of a bassist and drummer but have a much fuller sound than you might expect. The bassist uses loads of bass chords and creates a sound that sounds like a lot more than just one instrument, an the drummers on top of his game aswell. It is the bassist that gives this band such character though, he entertains the crowd with his fast paced wit an southern ‘del boy’ banter. Lyrics like “who do ya think smoked all ya hash? who’s do ya think knicked all ya cash? who set fire to ya dog? Me, me, me, me, me, me me me etc”. upbeat, feel good plod along sort of stuff, you need to hear them yaself really. Give em a listen on myspaz innit.
Next band: MORAL DILEMA. Matt misfit copied me their album a few weeks prior to this gig so I was lookin forward to seein them when I found out they were on the bill aswell. A 3 piece from London somewhere I think. All upbeat, singalong chanty stuff, remind me of f-minus at times in the way the singing switches from 1 person to another. Other times they sound like against me and then the restarts. Probably not fair to compare them to other bands as they do have their own style in their own right. But im no muso, I don’t know all the fuckin musical terms an stuff, (apart from “Flange”). Moral delema are well worth a listen anyway. Stand out track for me was at the end of their set, not sure what the songs called cos my cd is a copy with no track listing but they hammered out a song about the police beatin fuck out of people, sounds quite generic in writing but the song is really fuckin good, well worth givin em a try.
Next up THE STAR FUCKING HIPSTERS. Consisting of members of leftover crack, the slackers and apparently the bouncing souls although I didn’t recognize anyone from the bouncing souls tonight…? Anyway, been hammering SFH’s album “Until were dead” since the misfit gave me a copy about a month or 2 ago, much like leftover crack but with a few more slower songs, but just as good. They open tonights set with a song about 9/11 being an inside job (“smart folks know what I mean”). By this time the whole room is bouncing, an its all fuckin goooood. Im pissed by now aswell an dancing like a twat. Managed to film another video, of them doing “Two Cups Of Tea” but memory ran out on camera so its not very long video… here it is… x
I miss the last train at 11:15 or whatever it is as SFH are playin their last couple of songs, couldn’t care less though cos its one of them. Lucky for me though after the gig im invited back to the autonomads/war coma’s squat. the dead subverts an moral dilemma are stayin there aswell. Anyway, much more drinks/smokes/slurring fun had here, including someone passing out an everyone drawin all over him (for once its not me), I crawl into a taxi at around 4am to catch a train at 5:05, which is delayed til 6:05. an how jammy is this… I passed out on the train an was woken up by the tanoy saying “you are now at Colwyn bay”… run off the train, jumping through the closing doors “Indianna Jones” style, with the ticket man shouting “go on lad”, it was classy ya should’ve seen it! Walked up station road, stumbled on a bus, got home about half 8 / 9 ish and slept for about 2 hours til I got picked up to head off to Southampton…