February 28, 2020

GIG REVIEW – Dogsflesh, Spam Javelin, Krank @ The Skerries, Bangor

Motorhead aside, that was one of the loudest gigs I’ve been to, yet still within the decibel guidelines. How did they do it? Sheer power, that’s how…
Dogsflesh came, we saw, and they conquered, with a display of tsunamic proportions…

On Day 2 of 3 (we played Liverpool last night and Old Colwyn tomorrow) – I did fear that with such a stellar line up tomorrow, we’d have sparsity here in Bangor this evening. It was 8.30 and only a handful of people were drinking at The Skerries, doing what drinkers do best…

However, by the time Krank hit the stage, the back room (the venue) was filling up nicely with the curious, the bi-curious and the soon to be furious. I’ve not seen Krank for almost three years; back then they were disjointed, played for far too long but were entertaining.
Tonight they were jointed (three-skinner), played for too long and very entertaining… There’s a Butthole Surfers feel about Krank, with (Gibby Haynes) James up front, huge, oafish, yet sharp and occasionally unpredictable, providing amusement. The band pay spurious metal with a punk edge. Garndolbenmaen is a strange place, and Krank are the epitome of that…

Having played a rough around the edges set in Liverpool last night, we, Spam Javelin gave it a bit more welly this evening… And it felt good. [pic above by james phillips]

As I said, with a lot of the regular gig goers absent this evening it was refreshing to see so many new, young and unfamiliar faces out and enjoying live music… From up that there North, Dogsflesh [pic above by tracey howarth] are old enough to have fathered most of the crowd tonight!! Yet once those opening riffs seared through the Bangor streets, there was no generation gap, no preconceptions and definitely no mercy. It was that wall of unabated power that impacted on our mortal souls…
Originally a 1982 D-beat punk band (or a UK82 band if you like), Dogsflesh still play Mad Punx And Psycho Skins from those days, and they perhaps see it as a monkey around their necks. Although I must admit their later material outstrips that early stuff tenfold. The 2010 album ‘Revival Of Species’ betrayed a leaning to the mighty Motorhead. and a decade on there’s a punk-metal crossover barrage of power-chords. Or perhaps metal-punk crossover, with cool new-ish songs like Broken, Beaten Scarred and the AC/DC on speed riffs of So Fucked Up. You’ll find these songs on their ‘Critical Response’ album, alongside the much slower, yet as equally explosive Only Angels Weep. Excellent ‘rock’n’roll’ finale…