Moon Ska Rising Tour.
Ex-Cathedra, Shootin' Goon, Lubby Nugget, Zen Baseball
Bat, Uncle Brian.
The Shed, Leicester,18/7/00.
After the disappointment of Laurel Aitken's show being cancelled two days before the moon ska tour was a welcome relief.
I wasn't expecting much of this tour as Ex-cathedra were the only band I'd really heard, although Shootin Goon sounded good at Morecambe. The idea of 5 bands also sounded like to many change overs and not enough live ska, thankfully this proved not to be the case as the time between bands was only 10 or 15 minutes.
Before the gig I caught up with the splitters of whom most had turned up, we talked about Morecambe and Drew wishing the band could sign for Hellcat! Laurel Aitken (who the Drew and Steve from the splitters, back) apparently lives in Leicester and Drew had spoke to Laurel and asked him to cove down to the gig. - Imagine Laurel at a ska/punk gig!!!
9pm Uncle Brian opened up the show, the 4 kids from Salisbury sounded very much like Home grown. Although the singer sounded English which is a good thing cos he's not trying to be American, but the bad thing was he's not the best of singers, but at least he's being himself.
I started off not that impressed by the band, but as the set carried
on I got into them more. The Bass player spent a lot of time in the crowd
playing away and only 3 or 4 people got skanking in the pit.
The band ended the set with a punk version of the vengaboys cover "going
to Ibiza" it was ok a bit cringe-worthy though.
"Kelly" and "Shooting through" were the highlights. The latter is featured
on the free CD given away at the gig and if you listen to it you'll agree
it sounds like Home Grown - ska/punk college style fun about going out.
10 mins after Uncle Brian had finished Zen baseball bat were on stage,
this 7 piece from Runcorn and Widnes were the group I had least expected
to be good, I assumed they were ska/pop - I guessed DHC with male vocals.
I missed them at Morecambe, I can't remember why but I wish I hadn't. As
actually the band were very good, Devo playing 2-tone. Anyone who likes
Gangster Fun will dig this crew.
The bass and keyboard worked really well together. A
mate of mine said "2-tone by numbers" but I disagreed, ok they had a
2-tone similar sound, but they were distinct, a weird twist on the late
'70's ska. There fairly unique sound makes them good to see with all the
ska/punk and 2-tone bands around at the moment.
"I am the champion concrete mixer" and "an ode to purple ackey" were
two of the best moments.
Lubby Nugget started off with 3 real hardcore punk numbers will horns. It was like the horns were battling against the 2 guitars to be heard the most. I started off disappointed, but like with Uncle Brian I got more into them as they started playing more standard ska/punk. A lot of the 2nd half of the set sounded like early mu330 "press" and "chumps on parade" which was good in a way but not overly original. Although they did have a few tunes that would have fitted nicely on to a MU330 CD. There were quite a few ska and punk kids down the front. There were about 60 or so people in the small but well laid out venue most of whom were between 16 and 21. (A lot of the girls were 16 or 17 - which some members of Uncle Brian seemed to like, i shall mention no names!!)
Shootin goon were the band I was really looking forward too and they
were good. (but not out of this world)
Not as many people were in the pit as for Lubby Nugget. "Plain to see"
was really good with the superman horn break. The Cardiff 7 piece had some
other good tunes as well and the album will be definitely worth checking
out.
As with Morecambe the cover of Village People's YMCA was cool, loads
of the crowd got on stage to sing along and more people got down the front
for the last couple of songs.
A lot of people left before Ex-Cathedra came on which was a pity, and
like Morecambe there weren't many people interested they were almost like
a post show band again tonight.
"Trapped" and especially "Breakdown" were good and "Truth to flight"
was another highlight. Half way through the set the guitarist had a few
technical problems with his amp which caused a 2 or 3 minute break and
a few more people headed for the exits. "Something new" saw the band back
on the right track and "Just begun" was pretty punky but by now the pit
/ skanking area had been vacated and the band went through a few more numbers
before the finish. As the crowd were fairly young perhaps they more interested
in the ska/punk of Lubby Nugget, Uncle Brian and Shootin Goon than the
'77 punk with ska breaks and sax of the Scots. It was unfortunate as even
though they had technical problems, Ex Cathedra put in a good performance.
Overall it was a great night at I'd definitely recommend going to see
any of the 5 bands who played and I'm looking forward to hearing more of
Shootin Goon and Zen Baseball bat.