Teenage Bottlerocket are one of the leading lights in the
current breed of punk rock bands. Playing fast and fun pop punk music in the
style of bands like The Ramones, Screeching Weasel and The Misfits. After
almost three years they were returning to London to play a show at the Camden
Underworld. Anticipation was high.
The first two bands up tonight were Flash House and The Kut.
Flash House were a four piece hardcore/thrash band. They played hard and fast
with plenty of aggression including a fun cover of the Fears I Love Living In
The City. The Kut are a three piece all female band from London. They played a
set of energetic grunge punk. Both bands were decent enough but I had a tricky
time really getting into them, they felt like odd choices for the gig.
Main support came from the ever popular London punk rockers
Wonk Unit. Since seeing them at the Manchester Punk Festival the Wonkers have
added a keyboardist to their live band and she really added a lot to
proceedings adding some excellent harmonies and screams along with the keys.
Alex Wonk is one of the finest front-men in the game at the moment, dancing
around the stage, singing with one of the most distinctive voices around and
generally having the time of his life. Wonk Unit are a band that's loved
everywhere but especially the London punks. The crowd were dancing excitedly
for everything song but the songs Lewisham and Go Easy got fantastic reactions.
The man who Go Easy was written about, Teddy Four Legs was in attendance
tonight and was great seeing him jump around to his song. I don't think you can
really appreciate just how good Wonk Unit are as a band until you experience
them live. They really got the party started superbly.
After Wonk Unit it was time for those Wyoming pop punks
Teenage Bottlerocket and by now the Underworld was full. I had wondered what
the attendance would be like on a warm Sunday night, would people be worried
about the late night before the a Monday morning or would they simply be having
a relaxing night in a beer garden or having a barbecue at home. Nope! The punks
were at the Underworld to support one of the finest and most consistent bands
around. After coming onto stage to a remixed version of The Black Eyed Peas hit
I've Gotta A Feeling Teenage Bottlerocket ripped through song after song from
their entire discography starting with Skate Or Die and finishing with Far
Away. The pace never seemed to slow throughout, I have no idea where the band
get such energy from. I was really happy to see that songs like Blood Bath At
Burger King and Radio from early album Total got as big a reaction as They Call
Me Steve and Haunted House from newest album Tales From Wyoming. I was very
impressed with TBR's performance as well as their ability to get the crowd
involved despite the speed with which they play their songs. Giving the
Underworld crowd plenty of opportunities to sing loudly when the band from stop
playing. All four members of the band were extremely watchable on the stage and
all looked to be having as great a time as the people on the floor. Kody and Ray's shared vocal duties were both
spot on, Miguel on bass was never standing still, always animated and puling
faces and Brandon was a machine behind the drums, extremely animated and really
rocking out.
Teenage Bottlerocket were on fine form tonight. There are a
lot of very good pop punk bands around at the moment (and I mean proper pop
punk, not that Story So Far and Wonder Years nonsense) and Teenage Bottlerocket
are up there with the very best. I hope it's not another three years before
they come back again.
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