Cyanide Pills - Damaged Goods Records Party at The 100 Club November 04th with Talulah Gosh & Helen Love

Cyanide Pills by Paul Slattery

"The journey to the 100 Club was epic. The van broke down at 3am eight miles from Dieppe Ferry Port. 3 recovery vehicles, 2 missed ferries, 1 hire car & 16hrs later we arrived at the 100 Club an hour before we were due to play..." That's taken from the Cyanide Pills' Facebook page posted up the day after the gig on November 04th. Hard to believe, as the band had put on an excellent show bursting full of energy and spirit. Just after their set, I'd heard the story from bassist Al and road manager Paul, who explained how they barely made it to this special night to celebrate 25 years of Damaged Goods Records and 50 years of label boss Ian. You would never had guessed it but they must have been exhausted, and I suppose they just put all the frustration into the performance as they crashed straight into "Waiting For Nightfall" and didn't let up for one second.

Cyanide Pills by Paul Slattery

The brilliant "Break It Up", with its naggingly catchy guitar riff is followed by one of their more salacious songs, the almost Zodiac Mindwarp cartoon naughtiness of "Cheap 'n' Nasty". "Making Her Mind Up" is a track that the Buzzcocks would be proud of, as it captures their sense of timeless melody with buzzing guitars and a skewed sense of cynical romance. In "Johnny Thunders Lived In Leeds" from their latest album "Still Bored", they cross the Atlantic for their influence and do a decent take on the New York Dolls sound, with some very amusing lyrics, "I'm a Yorkshire Man, not a New York junkie...!" must go down as one of the best lines in Punk Rock.

Cyanide Pills by Paul Slattery

"Conquer The World" with it's tale of a jilted lover going on the rampage is a real treat but it's the next track, "Non-Believer" that is probably my highlight of the evening. A perfect Power Pop Punk nugget that steamrollers along on a superb chorus. Cyanide Pills zoom through various Punk Rock influences throughout the ages, from the echoes of The Damned's first album on "Shallow" to The Briefs on the new single "Apathy", but they manage to retain their original edge, mainly thanks to their undoubted knack with a damn fine tune. The brilliantly witty "Mail Order Bride" is followed by the singalong "Where Did It Go?" and the set ends with "Suicide Bomber", which could almost be called their signature tune, as it crams the essence of the band into two minutes of humour, melody and energy perfectly. As their Damaged Goods Record label boss Ian told us in our special Retrosonic Podcast, the Cyanide Pills are "pure genius", and he should know...he signed them!

Damaged Goods Records boss (and Birthday Boy) Ian by Paul Slattery

Ian also had two of his favourite Damaged Goods acts on the bill, Talulah Gosh and Helen Love who both went down a treat with their fans - and everyone left smiling and buzzing after a great night's entertainment. Please don't forget to check out the other great bands on the Damaged Goods Rosta here, including their stunning collection of coloured 7" vinyl releases. 

Talulah Gosh by Paul Slattery

Helen Love by Paul Slattery

You can hear Ian talking about the Damaged Goods label and playing some of his favourite and most important releases, including songs from Billy Childish, Manic Street Preachers, Thee Spivs, Graham Day, Giuda, Thee Headcoates and Pete Molinari and, of course, Cyanide Pills, in our two part Retrosonic Podcast series, Part 1 is here, and Part 2 can be found here.

 
 

Thanks to Ian and to Paul Slattery for the excellent photos. Here's a video of Cyanide Pills at the 100 Club with "Conquer The World", for more videos check out the Retro Man Blog YouTube channel.