Welcome to the ramblings of a man who really should have grown out of listening to "that sort of music" a long, long time ago...A place to share thoughts and photographs on music and related paraphernalia.
Showing posts with label Nambucca London. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nambucca London. Show all posts
The Parkinsons treated us to a raucous set of adrenaline-fuelled Portuguese Punk Rock at an excellent Some Weird Sin Club Night at Nambucca. It was the first time I'd seen the band since their Sunday afternoon set at Hipsville back in 2018, which you can read about in the Blog archive here.
I certainly wasn't to be disappointed after such a long wait, especially as since then, I'd grown to fully appreciate just how damn great the latest album "The Shape of Nothing To Come" is. Tonight at Nambucca it's the four piece line-up, missing the keyboard/percussion player, who I thought added a nice original touch when I saw them at Hipsville, so it's as stripped back and raw as it gets. The band struggle a bit with technical problems at first before blasting through an intense set packed full of their catchy and melodic Punk. Afonso spends a lot of the show either down among the audience (I even get a go on the mic for the chorus of "New Wave"), crowd-surfing or being held aloft Iggy style before scaling the precarious speaker stack. He is one of the best frontmen I've seen - a tattooed time-bomb of unpredicability and danger which he somehow manages to balance with an easy charm and self-deprecating sense of humour. I've always thought that Victor Torpedo is one of the most underrated Guitarists around, his unique style encompasses all the best in pure Rock 'n' Roll and I'm sometimes reminded of Mick Jones of The Clash, Gang of Four's sadly missed Andy Gill, East Bay Ray of Dead Kennedys along with an angular Post-Punk spin which really elevates The Parkinsons sound. Live, he's also a great foil to Afonso, leaping around the stage, high kicking and sometimes even getting down among the crowd to play. Supercool bassist Pedro Chau and the powerful drummer Ricardo Brito are a superb rhythm section, kicking up a mighty storm particularly on a crunching verison of "Heavy Metal" and the classic "Running". Here are a few photos from the gig, hopefully they will capture the sheer joy and energy of a Parkinsons show.
The Parkinsons at Nambucca - Photo Retro Man Blog
The Parkinsons at Nambucca - Photo Retro Man Blog
The Parkinsons at Nambucca - Photo Retro Man Blog
The Parkinsons at Nambucca - Photo Retro Man Blog
The Parkinsons at Nambucca - Photo Retro Man Blog
The Parkinsons at Nambucca - Photo Retro Man Blog
The Parkinsons at Nambucca - Photo Retro Man Blohg
The Parkinsons at Nambucca - Photo Retro Man Blog
The Parkinsons at Nambucca - Photo Retro Man Blog
The Parkinsons at Nambucca - Photo Retro Man Blog
For more information on The Parkinsons check out their official Facebook page here. You can order the DVD of their excellent documentary "A Long Way To Nowhere" here. News of upcoming Some Weird Sin club nights and gigs can be found at their site here. Some Weird Sin is run by Mauro from The Speedways and Simon from Desperate Journalist, who I first saw back in 2013 when they were bandmates in Jonny Cola & The A-Grades
The Jackets at Nambucca - photo copyright Retro Man Blog
The Future Shape of Sound sure know how to put on a show and they opened the final night of the Le Beat Bespoke Easter Weekend in a riotous blaze of colour. First of all, the band take the stage and there sure is a lot of them. Drums, bass, keyboards, saxophonist and then guitarist and frontman Alex McGowan, who’s name not only sounds a bit like Hanoi Rocks’ guitar-slinger Andy McCoy, he bears a striking resemblance to him too. The guys are all decked out in that classic faded voodoo glam gangster style with Fedora hats, scarves and brothel creepers - they certainly look the part. Next on stage appear three excellent backing singers who add some soaring Soul and Gospel harmonies to the swampy good time New Orleans style Rock ‘n’ Roll.
The Future Shape of Sound at Nambucca - photo copyright Retro Man Blog
The Future Shape of Sound at Nambucca - photo copyright Retro Man Blog
Finally, there’s the exotic and impressive lead vocalist Suri Sumatra, complete with huge feather headdress that almost scrapes the venue’s ceiling. It all makes for one hell of a visually stunning sight and they had the crowd eating out of their hands by the end of a thoroughly entertaining set. The band describe their sound as Primitive Gospel Blues and if you like the slightly sleazy sounds of “Exile on Main Street” era Stones, Jim Jones, Primal Scream and Hanoi Rocks, then you are going to love The Future Shape of Sound. Here is a video of the current single "Toe the Line" which is taken from their "Shakedown Gospel" album, available now on Gypsy Hotel Records.
The Jackets at Nambucca - photo copyright Retro Man Blog
Despite being a stripped back three-piece line-up, The Jackets filled the Nambucca stage as effortlessly as the nine members of The Future Shape of Sound, that's thanks in main to the engaging livewire antics of singer and guitarist Jack Torera. Whenever she is not required to be at her mic stand singing, Jack is a non-stop blur of motion, complete with high kicks, leaps and humorous poses. With her striking Clockwork Orange style eye make-up, she is certainly one of the wildest and most unpredictable of frontwomen that I have ever seen. Drummer Chris Rosales and bassist Samuel Schmidiger not only nail down a mean rhythm but they also both add superb backing vocal harmonies that lift The Jackets fuzzed-up songs to another level.
The Jackets at Nambucca - photo copyright Retro Man Blog
The Jackets at Nambucca - photo copyright Retro Man Blog
During tonight’s electrifying performance, they played a few promising sounding songs from their forthcoming album “Queen of Pill” with “Dreamer” and “Steam Queen” impressing along with the two excellent tracks from their latest 7” vinyl release, “Queen of The Pill” and the stunning show opener “Be Myself”. Familiar numbers such as “At the Go Go” and “Freak Out” went down a storm and on a brilliant run through of “Wasting My Time”, Clementine of Das Clamps was cajoled into joining them on stage to dance. The Jackets are one of those bands you really have to see play live at least once in your life, the problem is that once is never enough!
The Jackets at Nambucca - photo copyright Retro Man Blog
The Jackets at Nambucca - photo copyright Retro Man Blog
"Queen of The Pill" will be released by Voodoo Rhythm Records on June 14th, it’s produced by King Khan and mixed and mastered by Jim Diamond and is available to pre-order from The Jackets Bandcamp site here. For more photos of the show please check out the Retro Man Blog Facebook page here and you can find some more videos at our YouTube Channel here. Here's a video of the new album's title track "Queen of The Pill", turn it up loud and enjoy!
