229 Club London – 27 January 2017
Firstly, wow what a great venue directly opposite Gt. Portland St tube. Never been there before but the stage is great (raised at about 5ft) so everyone can get a good view of what’s going on. It was pretty full, not sure if it hit the 760 capacity but well over 500 ‘middle aged’ punk souls attended.
First up were an all girl trio called The Tuts (punk pop I suppose). Lots of power chords, enthusiasm and jumping around. They managed to sneak in about 30 mins before Ken Spiers (AKA Spizz) told them to get off in no uncertain terms! They got a decent enough reception and managed to have good rapport with the ‘aged’ audience. Their set was ok and it will be interesting to see if they make it given the state of the music business these days.
Spizzenergi
To be truthful, I’d only ever heard their classic star trek single (you guess it’s title!) before so I didn’t really know what to expect but boy where they unexpectedly good! Spizz came on set glowing like a belisha beacon resplendent in LED lights pretty much all over his Spizzenergi branded trousers and t-shirt! The best was his belt buckle with an LED scrolling message display. The rest of the new band looked like a cross between the New York Dolls (guitar), Tiger Lillies (guitar) and any Emo-metal band (Bass!). A very tight knit unit that played an excellent set that really got the audience involved. It all helps when you have a charismatic front man and a few ‘oddballs’ in tow.
They played a mix of new stuff and the usual classics apparently. The two highlights for me were Soldier Soldier (an excellent song that really got the crowd going – mini mosh pit ensuing!) and the obligatory finale Where’s Captain Kirk? Keep it up chaps, I’ll be back for more!
The Rezillos
Fay Fife: Vocals, Keyboards; Eugene Reynolds: Vocals; Jim Brady: Lead guitar, Vocals; Chris Agnew: Bass; Angel Paterson: Drums
Well they didn’t disappoint, a thoroughly entertaining high energy night of science fiction B-movie punk rock. A mix of the old classics plus some of the new stuff which I unfortunately didn’t recognize but these songs seemed to blend nicely into The Rezillos stable.
Excellent visually (though Eugene was sweating somewhat not surprising as he never took off his resplendent leather jacket). Their ‘newish’ guitarist Jim can certainly play, no room for error here! I suspect since he’s been in the band the musicianship has gone up quite some notches. As Faye said ‘it’s not very punk rock’ as he was retuning his guitar, ‘standards’ was the retort!
I can remember the following songs being played – if you know the set list please get in touch! Links to the videos on YouTube are underlined.
- Flying Saucer Attack
- Mystery Action
- Destination Venus
- Top of the Pops
- Bad Guy Reaction
Encore: - Glad All Over (Dave Clark Five cover)
- Someone’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked in Tonight
Eugene, all in black with the best sunglasses ever vied for pole position with Fay in her black leather dress (yes, I could read the writing on it Fay – right up there!!). Marlon Brando meets Wilma Flintstone is a good description! The bass player and drummer were fairly anonymous but given the other three it’s probably a sensible move.
They were exceedingly entertaining, totally engaging and really got the audience stomping around (middle aged mosh pit got slightly bigger).
Really for £17.50 this was an absolute bargain of a night out (how do you make a profit guys?). I’d recommend both The Rezillos and Spizzenergi to anyone wanting to relive the spirit of 1970s punks. Go see them before it’s all too late!
Marko 29 Jan 2017
Marko's Music Blog 