Choking Victim plus support @ The Haunt, Brighton

Choking Victim are synonymous with anyone who has come across a crusty, dreaded, pierced individual, with songs about scabies, drugs, media and how rubbish it is being in a capitalist society. They're also a crack rock steady band through and through, and I've loved them to pieces since I first heard them.

Brighton is not my favourite place in the world. So after taking the afternoon off work we headed down to the coast nice and early to get some rum drinking in on the beach, hiding away from any hipster types. Of course it didn't take too long to get into the rum-hole and starting being a bit of a cunt to Wetherspoons barstaff and generally staggering around near the seafront looking lost, dazed and confused. And this was before the gig...

We got to the Haunt, which wasn't really like anywhere I'd been before. Mid size, with a balcony, and a weird little seating area close to the front of the stage. Naturally, we'd missed all the support bands, apart from the last one and I don't even know who they were. They were ok, playing ska punk with enthusiasm so we got our feet moving. The place didn't seem that full at this point, and you knew everyone just wanted to see one band. Or should I say one man...

Stza took to the stage and it became apparent that this was his show. There were no other members of Choking Victim present apart from him. It's always great to hear Choking Victim songs live, and they played everything I wanted to hear, and what the crowd wanted to hear too. I'm not saying it was bad, I threw myself about all over the place! I loved hearing Infested, Money, Crack Rock Steady, Fucked Reality, 5 Finger Discount and 500 Channels. Those songs will always be amazing live so although it was disappointing that this was the Stza show, it was still good to hear those tracks. I left the gig with broken glasses, a wrist and hand that didn't work and was incredibly disorientated. Best Monday night in a while, if a bit of a disappointment.

3.5/5

Faintest Idea - The Voice of Treason

I first came across Faintest Idea on an extremely drunken night at Rebellion 2009. I was in the process of shoving my extremely inebriated and somewhat concussed mate into the back of an ambulance, when I was accosted by a man brandishing CDs in my face. I later discovered he was throwing his bands CDs at me. I said I would have one, he gave me five. I managed to leave 4 of them in various places around Blackpool, but I took one home with me and gave it a listen. It was good. Really good. Easily one of the best ska punk albums I'd heard since maybe What's Next by The Filaments. Faintest Idea's latest album, The Voice of Treason, is the best thing they've done to date. It's angry, it's fast, you can dance to it, you can shout to it, and parts of it get stuck in your head for days on end.

The opening track, Back to the Asylum, is one of the songs that has been circling round my mind like a lost driver in Milton Keynes. Opening with some spoken word and introducing brass and guitars into the track gradually, it gets faster and faster and is impossible not to enjoy. I caught myself singing it at work today, even when I hadn't listened to the track in well over 12 hours. The track blends into Rattling the Cage, a much faster and noticeably angrier song. If the first track was for the ska heads, this is for people who like their more traditional street punk and like it fast and loud. It's still catchy as fuck. It slows right down again to get you in a mental state of confusion - but House of Cards lulls you into a false sense of security and before you know it you're transported into a skanking mass of bodies again (if you're listening to it live and not in your room). 

Those you follow TNS Records will be familiar with the next track, Bull in a China Shop (not to be confused with Leeds based TNS favourites China Shop Bull) and will have seen the video. I'll tell you now this track sounds even better live, and if you loved it the first time you'll love it even more amongst all the bounty of tracks on this album. Mutual Aid is another skank-worthy track with shout-a-long vocals at the end, followed by Defy & Demand, aka the band's "thrash song". Good job it's so short as at their live show the drummer looked knackered after playing it! It's an interesting addition onto the album though and works a treat (for those of us with short attention spans who favour tracks under 1 minute long). 

Separation of Corporation & State follows the track almost perfectly, then These Words are our Weapons, another track that's been stuck in my head for the past 5 days. 36 Barrells sounds like it could have stumbled off a Filaments album, followed by No Gods No Money which has made me dance every time I've heard it, whether I'm sat down, stood up or trying to do anything remotely productive. I just listened to it when writing this and had to turn it off because otherwise I wouldn't have typed anything...It's not the best track on the album, but it's impossible not to move some part of your body to it (unless you're Stephen Hawking). It's followed by Youth, another track that's been doing the rounds on the internet lately. It's fucking wicked. I can't wait to hear it live again! The album closes with They Drew First Blood, a fitting end to the album, starting with more spoken word and a sinister sounding chord progression before launching into heavy yet slow guitar and pounding drums. It's totally different to anything else that has been heard on the album till you get to this point, but is a certainly interesting way to round off the album.

I would like to finish by saying that Faintest Idea are the best thing to come out of Norfolk in a really long time. This album, with it's insane catchiness, could easily make the need for iPods and other music players obsolete, as it will be in your head forever, tattooed onto your brain. God bless TNS for another amazing release, and roll on Boomtown so I can hear this album live again!

5/5

Kathy

Weekend Nachos, The Afternoon Gents, Dry Heaves, Shoot The Bastard and The Flex @ The Brudenell

Hardcore music has always been an integral part of the Leeds music scene, bubbling away in basements and sweaty rooms above pubs for many years, and judging by the turn out for last Friday’s show at the Brudenell Social Club, it is showing no signs of going on the defence. Rather, it is grabbing your throat in a Somalian death-grip and sheering off your corneas with nothing but aural force. First on the bill were newcomers The Flex, whose approach to music is intense, raw and heavy in the best traditions of UKHC (think Vorhees, Walk the Plank). After a late start to the show that saw some flagging, this got people’s attention in a fucking hurry! They even got some people moving at the front, a rarity for the first band of the night but something which was fully deserved. They were followed by Shoot the Bastard, a band slightly on the Spazz-y, screaming side for my liking; but it was hard not to be drawn in by their flailing approach which reeked of cheap cider and dusty squats.

      After a further wait, which we filled with smoking and cheap booze, we found ourselves in front of the Dry Heaves. I have to make a conscious effort sometimes not to go on about the same few artists who I appreciate, but fuck mine this band are good, tempering their 80s hardcore approach with a scuzzy guitar sound; like a wild animal with a sedative dart not quite yet taken effect in its side. They were followed by the Afternoon Gents, who I hope I don’t offend, but to my drink-raddled eyes they seemed to be Shoot the Bastard after an instrument swap. Possibly a one member difference? Anyway, accordingly their music was in the same vein. Not my cup of White Lightning, but undeniably enjoyable and successful in getting people moving. The headliners on the night were Chicago hardcore mob the Weekend Nachos. Not a band that had crossed my path before this show, I was mildly unprepared for the assault to my system…this band is fucking heavy! Gnarly as fuck hardcore in the vein of a freight train heading toward you while you’re tied to the railings, they finished off the night in fine, ear melting form. After a long day battling with the British public transport system, a night of the hardcore scene’s finest was what I needed to let me go home with a smile on my face and a ringing in my ears.

5/5

Jono

Flogging Molly @ the Kentish Town Forum

Flogging Molly @ HMV Kentish Town Forum

      If you keep track of older Shot in the Foot articles, you’ll know that I thought the new Flogging Molly album ‘Speed of Darkness’ was amazing. Being in London anyway that weekend I decided to go and check out what the new songs would sound like live, knowing that the band always put on a good show. Unfortunately I also know that they have a penchant for awful support bands, having seen them on numerous occasions topping the bill on a line-up that I would normally avoid like the plague, if it wasn’t for them. This gig was no exception, and although I have no idea what the two bands in question were called, suffice to say that both their sounds lay in some kind of aurally hellish middle ground between indie and stadium rock...middle of the road isn’t even the half of it! A good couple of hours spent drinking ruinously expensive beer in the entrance area, and moaning like a champ. However, after a brief period for the audience to fathom out what they had just witnessed, the band people had come to see took to the stage and soon swept away the lingering aftertaste of mediocrity with their blinding mixture of folk, punk and rock that had me forgiving all support-based transgressions. Pulling out a selection of classics spanning their career, they had the crowd jumping and shouting along from the start – and the new songs sounded right up there, it seems like everyone already knows the words to tracks like ‘Don’t Shut ‘em Down’, ‘Revolution’ and ‘Speed of Darkness’. Other highlights included ‘Salty Dog’, ‘Drunken Lullabies’, ‘Devil’s Dancefloor’ and ‘Tobacco Island’; there isn’t much need for a track-by-track account though, if you’ve seen them you’ll know how much material they can get through, and if you haven’t then you’re missing out! I woke up the next morning with a crippling hangover, no voice, but a massive grin on my face, because this band live are up there with the greats!

4/5 – one point less than it should have been due to the support.

Jono

Sick on the Bus - If It Ain't Broke...Break It!

What I have in my grubby little hands is the new album from the UK’s loudest, fastest and hardest punk band! Sick on the Bus are not some cut and paste punk band with their synchronised jumps, shit as fuck harmonies and perfectly sculpted ‘hair dos’ , Sick on the Bus have been going for some twenty odd years and know a thing or two about creating a hard as fuck, raw record which is pumped full of blood, guts and venom!

     ‘ If It Ain’t Broke… Break It!’ Is an awesome 13 track journey where the songs barely scrape through 2 minutes long, covering all a growing boy need; Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll! You can clearly hear the influences of Motorhead and GBH scratching through but in a vein few bands have managed to make their own with Sick On The Bus standing head and shoulders above the rest.

      The album has 3 re-recorded tracks from the ‘Tormentum Insomniae’ split EP -  ‘Slut’, ‘Whores Not Wars’ and ‘Some Kinda Idiot’ which are 3 break neck speed punk gems with some savage solos. ‘It Won’t Suck Itself’ is another song aimed at sexual exploits which is a common theme in SOTB albums. ‘Won’t Stop’ is pretty much an anthem for all British people and their love of getting utterly fucked up and being general menaces to society! Anyway, I can’t be arsed to go through every song but I can guarantee that once you’ve listened to this album you’ll be injecting speed into your eyeballs and fucking anything with a pulse… in fact the pulse isn’t mandatory!!!

Buy this record! 5/5

Dan

Blood Diamond

2012 marks the 60th year of Queen Elizabeth sitting on the throne in charge of Great Britain and the Commonwealth. What does this mean for Britain? Fuck all really. There's people who argue that the monarchy is needed in Britain still, it's part of our tradition, it brings tourists in, blah blah blah.But after doing a bit of research, it turns out the Queen is what you call a 'constitutional monarch', meaning that when she gets sent round the world she represents Britain, and, according to her website, is "a focus of national unity". National unity? Fuck off. The importance of considering yourself as 'British' is completely and utterly irrelevant, unless you're getting a passport. National identity is not something that I perceive to be overly important. I am a firm believer in open borders, we're all human and we're all on this planet together, let's enjoy it while we're here without fear of racial hatred or getting fucked over at imaginary borders drawn on the world by people who were subjects of the monarchy centuries ago. It also turns out from my little bits of research that no-one in Britain is a 'citizen' as such; we are all still subjects of the monarch, as were those people who split the world up into countries, states and territories.

      At the end of the day, the monarchy purely serves to reiterate that Britain is a class society. Children understand who the Queen is from a young age, and if they are not Protestant then they will never be able to be a part of the highest of the upper classes. We do not need the monarchy. Even people who are worried that abolishing the monarchy will mean that Britain isn't Britain any more need not worry - we will still have shit expensive trains, grass, trees, hills, bastard police, council estates, off licenses and a government who has no idea what it's doing. Yes, David Cameron would be head of the country, but he is already. No-one voted for the Queen, but at least we know who to blame if someone like Cameron gets voted in.

      Britain needs a revolution to overthrow the monarchy and form a republic. 2012 is the perfect year to do it. What are we waiting for? By law, MPs, the voted-for representatives of the people of Britain, are not allowed to discuss the monarchy, let alone overthrow it. It's up to us to do it. I propose commandeering the Queen's diamond jubilee boat.

Kathy

Become a part time London drunk

Sometimes winter in Yorkshire can get depressing, and after a while the phenomenon of ‘sideways rain’ is likely to get to the most upbeat of people. So to get away and experience a few days of not getting drenched every time I left the house, I decided to head down to London for the weekend – although it didn’t hurt that there was a multitude of skateboarding planned around the city, and Agent Orange and the Stupids were playing on the Saturday night. After a Friday morning spent skating wet, muddy curbs, and thoroughly enjoying it, in Elephant and Castle with Jon, I headed over to Stockwell to skate around, and watch Questions do FS inverts on a 5 foot high quarter…no idea how that works, but needs to be seen to be believed. Despite my head being slightly fuzzed on Saturday, I pulled my shit together and headed toward Hemel Hempstead, which was the scene this year of Concrete Carnival – with attendance from most UK heads, along with Rune Glifberg and Eric fuckin’ Dressen! Seeing him do FS grinds in the pool made my day, as did the rest of the insanity going on….skateboarding these days is savage! And what better way to round the evening off with some 80s hardcore, who said the 80s are over?

      Getting to Tufnell Park pretty early meant some chilling time with some cans and chronic on the steps across the world, where we made first contact with the drunkest woman on earth at that moment (asking us for some card), along with her close-to-as-messy mates. They were heading to the show as well, brilliant…After catching the end of the Rocco Lampones, who seem to have changed their style a bit and improved considerably since I saw them with the Swingin’ Utters (unless I was seeing a completely different band and got confused), the Human Project took to the stage with a brand of very melodic hardcore that didn’t appeal to me much. Fair play to them, they put some energy into it, and the drunks at the front seemed happy enough with it, but it didn’t do much for me. Next up were the recently reformed and still killing it Stupids, who kicked things back into shape with their high octane skate rock. Unfortunately for them, and the audience, this was the point of the show where drunk stupidity struck, and after a sozzled mongoloid sat on their drum kit, totally demolishing it, that was it after a 15 minute set. You could tell that the band were as pissed as the crowd, the bouncers had already kicked that group out more than once and let them back in so who was to blame? Enough to make you straight edge!

      Luckily hardcore legends Agent Orange had no difficulties stepping up to the plate and appeasing the crowd with a set of tight, melodic surf tinged hardcore that covered most of Living in Darkness and a good selection of their later materials. Highlights for me were everything played from the first record along with a couple of covers; their usual version of the Dead Kennedys’ Police Truck, along with the more eclectic choice of Tom Waits’ Whistlin’ Past the Graveyard, which actually works well! Apparently the b-side to their new single, after hearing the single played as well I can happily say I enjoyed that more. Unfortunately we couldn’t catch the very end due to transport issues but I can only imagine they finished with Fire in the Rain and Bloodstains, and if it was as good as the rest of the show it can only have been sick as! The next day I was recharged by the power of hardcore and ready for a skate at Stockwell, and a day spent battling through the weather eventually paid off, with the first ever Stockwell Winter Games going down a treat. Only one corner of the park (the biggest part of the snake run) dry, some wooden grind boxes and jump ramps, and about 30 stoked skaters buzzing for a shred, and the session pretty much writes itself! Great to see people making the most at this time of year, fuck ya’ll fairweather cunts because we’re living this! Gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling to think about….though finding a bar that allowed some blazing of the chalice in the beer garden probably didn’t hurt. This was part of an art exhibition solely focusing on skateboarders and BMXers. Probably because I have a lot more in common with these people than other artists, this turned out to be one of the best art exhibitions I’ve been to, some of the ideas put on canvas made me grin, others just got me dead stoked. It’s great to see people using their time to be creative and do something interesting outside of just spending all day in skate parks (not that I’m knocking that, it’s kept me going for the last 11 years).

      Getting back to Leeds on a Monday morning is always a treat, but sometimes you just can’t beat getting away for a weekend. This weekend was another reminder to me about just how lucky we are to have such strong scenes in both skateboarding and punk music – the economy might be fucked, our leaders might be leading us to the brink of destruction as they so dearly love to do, but at a grass roots level, shit is tight!

   Jono