ORANGE GOBLIN, ROADSAW, CENTURIONS GHOST, SONS OF MERRICK & HONKEYFINGER –
LONDON SCALA 19/12/09
Why does it feel like someone used my liver as a punch bag and my head as a baseball? Ah the Orange Goblin Xmas show, that explains it all and this is always one of the biggest drunken knees ups of the calendar and it was a cold snowy and freezing night to have it on too. Moving from the Underworld to the plusher Scala was a good move but the downside of it was that the bands were playing till much later than carriages home were running. This meant either staying till 6AM in the venue for a club and spending a small fortune, having a sober person to drive home (my option luckily) or pretty much missing Orange Goblin, which was the case for my unfortunate fellow scribes and left me no choice but try and decipher illegible scrawlings, photographic evidence and try to put some semblance of a review together.
Back earlier and less drunkenly although far from altogether sober, first act of the night was a certain Mr Honkeyfinger. Odd, we thought so too, till he came on and it all made sense as we had caught this grizzled figure at a previous Gob show. This one man freak rocker played the blues on a guitar and drums and various effects pedals. I guess you could mention Seasick Steve but it was more a case of Shipwrecked Sam gone completely feral in the swamps after eaten his companions for lunch all washed down with moonshine, roadkill for desert and methamphetamine for luck. We were transported to the bayou and the obvious comparison that struck me was John Lee Hooker with an unhinged fuzz laden craziness about him. The harmonica etched swamp rock was most enjoyable and even if it did leave a few scratching their heads it made perfect sense to the rest of us as we swigged our drinks and grooved on down. All that was missing was a croc on the stage and I bet Mr Honkeyfinger would have wrestled it down without missing a note. (PW)
Sons of Merrick found favour with myself earlier this year, their style is a refreshing change from the normal musical tastes that are thrust upon the audiences nowadays. ‘Sissy’ gives the bouncy bass fills and feel a certain air of happiness, whilst it appears we are struggling to hear the vocals throughout most of the set, this does not deter singer Nick Berkshire from giving a heartfelt rendition of SOM classics, even if the album was only released this year! This becomes clear with the ‘Golden Age of Piracy’ and the album opener ‘Striding the Valleys of Skullumus’. Guitarist Dan Edwards likes the large stage, he certainly moves more whilst bassist Ben Thompson remains static grinning from ear to ear. A good set but let down by poor sound desk duties. (PM)
I have caught Centurions Ghost a lot lately and on the eve of a new album release thought it high time they got another review. Just before they came on I bumped into the ever friendly Krusher who was very much giving the band his seal of approval which should be a good enough tip to check them out if you have never had the pleasure before. Having well and truly settled into a groove as a quartet there is no cutting back on their weighty sound and tonight is no exception. Front-man Mark towers over the front row pacing about on and off the stage and spewing out his meaty vocals. Guitarist Fed makes up for absent second guitarists by capably handling all parts and flailing out solos for good measure. The sound was on the whole akin to a grape being put in a vice and squeezed and songs such as new one ‘Wizard Of Edge’ were down-tempoed slabs of doom. The riffs and the bass hurt and that may explain part of the pain today, as for the band they delivered 30 minutes of pure sonic Armageddon. ‘Blessed And Cursed In Equal Measure’ is coming, you have been warned. (PW)
After such a battering and stunning set from Centurions Ghost, word was that Roadsaw were going to be playing a set of KYUSS songs. What’s more, the crowd was pretty packed for this and I was eagerly anticipating the songs, as I had been unlucky to miss the original Kyuss in the early 1990’s. Now that aside, it is such a shame that the now “cult” band never got the same recognition when they were together, this might have had different turn of fortune for the band members, although the after products like Slo Burn, Hermano, and even early QOTSA were welcomed, but the fans got what they wanted. ‘One Inch Man’, ‘Supa Scoopa…’ and the massive crowd favourite ‘Gardenia’ sat well with ‘Green Machine’ and ‘Thumb’. Roadsaw made a fitting tribute to Kyuss and it was clear to see that their music was much loved. This was one set that I shall remember for a few years to come. (PM)
Much later and much drunker for me it was time for my at least once yearly encounter with Orange Goblin. I have seen this band loads of times, several as My Haunted Kingdom, over the years and it is always a pleasure. The audience tonight had obviously had far too much to drink as they were throwing it away with wild abandon as the band entered to Goblin’s main theme from Suspiria and peeled into ‘The Ballad Of Solomon Eagle.’ In the photo pit I got loads thrown towards the stage down the back of my neck and Ben Ward was similarly coated in discarded booze although much of that may have missed his gob during the evening anyway. Copious amounts of booze do not thankfully affect this singer’s performance but the price they charge here I honestly do not understand why people were so intent on throwing it away. As the band continued to ‘Round Up The Horses’ which had been thieved from the house of god apparently (sorry) the delirious crowd carried on partying down on the dance-floor and almost thankfully I was made to leave the photo pit no doubt saving me more of a soaking and wandered up to the balcony for some higher up shots and to watch Joe and Martyn spiral away from a safe distance.
The set itself naturally took us through the group’s expansive cosmic universe with numbers old and new, although I believe nothing off their great debut. One of the highlights on this long set which lasted possibly over 90 minutes (was not clock watching) came at the midway point with an ode to that great Bill character ‘Tosh Lines’ followed up by the stomping ‘Man Who Invented Time’ The spillages were getting worse and we got London’s very own Toxic Avenger, Rev Al on stage with a mop to clean it up, it would have perhaps been a more efficient operation if he had used his beard. Before the encore we staggered and some fell over, ahem to ‘Some You Win, Some You Lose.’ I had lost beer and refilled and gave up trying to write anymore at this point but can remember ‘Blue Snow’ but that might have been down to the drive home and hallucinations. All in all it was a fantastic night which would have me relaxing and getting to grips more with my suffering after having written this, if I hadn’t decided to go and do it all again tonight at Satyricon. Doh! (PW)
Pete Woods & Paul Maddison
Click here for photographs
MTUK HOME
