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“Brilliant” is the word uttered from the mouth of the singer of Shocks Of Mighty as he looks out from the stage realising that the audience had not even reached double figures. Most were still outside swigging brew, caught up in TFL’s marvellous no Northern line debacle or at home no doubt refusing to see tonight’s bands in anything but a community squat setting. Luckily it did not put this trio off their stride at all as they powered away delivering some great bass chugging slabs of punky discourse. Songs were short, sharp, boisterous and gobby but not as three chord simplistic as I first expected due to some skewed violent guitar riffing that owed as much to new wave American acts like Husker Du as our very own sounds of the suburbs. The thick and fuzz laden sound was at times reminiscent of everything from The Clash to the Buzzcocks and SLF and numbers like ‘Welcome To The Working Week’ had those of us watching bouncing around in time to its beat and message.

The Astronauts brand of floating poetic anarchy was something that I had been looking forward to. The band helmed by Mark Astronaut have been part of the Anarcho punk scene since the late 70’s and have had a massive amount of musicians involved through the years. As for those joining Mark onstage tonight well they certainly were not survivors from the early days but were fresh faced and obviously eager adding a really youthful exuberance to the set. The jangling guitar driven rock literally coasted faultlessly and cosmically, powerfully surging out the speakers and sounding absolutely magnificent. It was hard to pigeonhole but at times I was reminded of The Dead Kennedy’s mixed with someone like The Dukes Of The Stratosphere, trippy, folky and rigorous and ultimately unique. Songs were incendiary, manic and deranged in equal measures and the layers of sound built up by the musical backbone were stellar bridging so many musical gaps from Indie guitar strum to post punk and progressive craziness reminding at times of The Cardiacs and their ilk. Naturally I loved it and found myself completely transfixed standing at the front of the stage like a puppet with all the strings being pulled in different directions at once. One song went dub heavy and Chris from RDF joined in on vocals as guitars flew off again shredding like a mix of Fugazi jamming out Johnny Be Good. I really didn’t want the set to end but unfortunately it had to, excellent stuff.

When I was younger hearing the name Hagar The Womb equally mystified and scared the bejeezus out of me. Little did I know that they were a bunch of very pleasant ladies and gents playing quirky female fronted punk alongside the likes of The Poison Girls, Rubella Ballet and Lost Cherrees. Having never seen them originally the fact the Wombs had recently reformed and were playing again was a bit of a treat. They seemed to be pleased about it too and the enthusiasm and bouncy character really flew off the stage and infected the thankfully busier crowd in leaps and bounds. The twin vocals were excellent and the band who I believe is still the original line-up played their hearts out. There was constant chatter in between songs and they all seemed to be happy to interact with the audience shouting out how excellent it was to be playing and to be rewarded by backstage crisps! Their somewhat brash clothing matched the music well and there was a lot of character about it all, bassist Mitch Flacko putting on an especially charismatic display. Like the first band they too had a song about the mindless drudgery of life ‘Routine’ but despite nihilistic narrative the sugar coated punk had everyone bouncing around and with the 6 band members on stage it was like they were having a party as much as playing a gig. They crammed as much as possible into the set and  kept the songs coming. You’ll Never learn was one of many that stood out and by the time the set drew towards a close the group were joined by many of the players from the first couple of bands and really made a celebration of it all.

Feeling slightly giddy after that ADHD of a performance it was time for the headliners. RDF that’s Radical Dance Faction or even Military Surplus RDF,  a band that I used to see many a time. You simply couldn’t go to a free festival or anarcho punk related gig without them being there providing a heady crusty beat of dub along with the unmistakable vocals of Chris Bowsher. I knew they had been playing a bit recently and had heard good reports from shows at Rebellion festival and the likes and was keen for going on a bit of a nostalgia trip.

We were thrust straight back into the Wasteland and back to the early 90’s for ‘Working Class Hero’ and it felt like the band had never been away. The spirit was still very much there all that has changed is that we are all that much older (a friend described Chris as looking like he had lived a life) and the free festivals and squat gigs are largely a thing of the past. The dub punk sound-clash was heavy and hefty tumbling out the Underworld speakers and at least there was no worry over anything like a generator breaking down and the music stopping. The accompanying female backing vocals from Karen Ricketts were excellent, slightly sullen and sultry and a great addition to Chris’s dry monotone delivery. Songs like ‘Surplus People’ were a mantra and had everyone falling around drunkenly trying to keep in time to them.

Babylon Is Burning brought the pace down a bit and was a good song to twist and turn to and I am guessing a song listed as ‘Excuse Me’ is a new one from forthcoming album ‘Ammunition.’ Nobody can quite outdo and I am sure out drink Shane MacGowan he owned ‘Dirty Old Town’ to such an extent many forget it was originally done by Ewan MacColl. Chris gives a good shot at it although it doesn’t quite hit the mark for me. The setting with Camden up a short flight of stairs is however perfect. Some of the early brew heads are in the casualty position by now and give it a while and I will be joining them but encore time approaches and I am well aware that the classic ‘Borderline’ will be played but for once am wrong. It was a song that many regarded as the RDF anthem and perhaps that’s good enough reason not to play it, still I was a little peeved when they got through to last number Sadness and did not come back and do it. Apart from that this was a top night and proof that there is life in a lot of old dogs still, with Culture Shock reformed to play soon too things are looking up. In crust we trust!

Review and photos © Pete Woods