More Than Life's van broke down on the way to the show so Fast Point were the first band on. I actually walked in half way through their set (didn't want to book the day off work for this), I liked their song on the Good Times seven inch comp but I wasn't overly fussed about seeing them, until they played a cover of California ber Alles by Dead Kennedys which had me fighting my way up front to sing along. They are actually a really good DIY Hardcore band, I'll be checking out their stuff in the future.
Honour Among Thieves: I'd like to think that most of tonight's crowd turned out because it's their last show, but seeing all the young Fashioncore kids you realise the majority are here because Dead Swans are on Thirty Days Of Night, well everyone up front are here to say goodbye to HAT. You have to wonder what went wrong, for a band that only had a self released demo to their name they achieved quite a lot (several tours of Europe reaching places as far as Russia and Turkey, signing a big deal with Gang Style records). You have to wince at the photographers clambering over themselves to take pictures of (you have to admit damn fine looking) guitarist Ivona, but then I'm there with them, but also to get pictures of other eye candy members like bassist Bryen and vocalist Sheep (if I was a gay or a lady, I would).
Sheep threw up halfway through their set, blamed the falafel he ate before playing.
Halfway through the last song Bryen and Sheep swap places.
Dirty Money: Yep, the singers still a mouthy cunt, still hate them. That's the bane of going to Hardcore shows in London, London Hardcore bands (actually that isn't fair, Honour Among Thieves are a London band, which goes to show that there are some gems amongst the shit but really most of it is just fucking awful). The only thing that impressed me was that they had a song called 2007 Was A Bad Year, which I like to think is a reference to the John Fante novel 1933 Was A Bad Year, which shows some degree of intelligence, maybe, maybe
Dead Swans: You know what I miss, old November Coming Fire. I know a lot of people slagged them off when they released Dungeness (which I'd still defend as the band growing and progressing) but if we're honest Black Ballads was just the shit, and add the fact that they had Thom "Violence" Dowse on bass, you just could fuck with them live. It was obvious the first time I saw this lot that they felt this way too, if NCF aren't going to play like that anymore, it's up to you. They walk out onstage and call everyone cunts for talking shit about them being on the cover of a mainstream Metal magazine, which I kind of like ("hello, welcome to the show, you're all cunts"). They run through the songs from their EP and split with Architects plus a couple of unreleased songs from the album they're working on, done in half an hour, nice, I can get an earlier train.
There was actually another show at the Tap that night, I got there just in time to miss Carmen (bad move on my part), but I did catch the last two bands.
Whitemare: Rock N Roll influenced Hardcore from Brighton, kind of reminded me of later Black Flag when they really got into ZZ Top (or if you want more contemporary comparisons; Gallows, Bars, Blackhole). I found myself really endeared to them by the merit that they didn't even look like a Hardcore band (long hair, beards, Kiss and Dio t-shirts).
Take Courage: The closet thing locally (well, Maidstone is close enough) we have to just straight up Hardcore Punk, drawing heavily from Bridge Nine bands like Ceremony, Have Heart and Verse (which I admit is stuff I don't really like but this band do it really well). They only seem to have five or six songs, rather than padding out the set with covers they keep everything short, sweet and full of energy, which is how it should be.
Honour Among Thieves: I'd like to think that most of tonight's crowd turned out because it's their last show, but seeing all the young Fashioncore kids you realise the majority are here because Dead Swans are on Thirty Days Of Night, well everyone up front are here to say goodbye to HAT. You have to wonder what went wrong, for a band that only had a self released demo to their name they achieved quite a lot (several tours of Europe reaching places as far as Russia and Turkey, signing a big deal with Gang Style records). You have to wince at the photographers clambering over themselves to take pictures of (you have to admit damn fine looking) guitarist Ivona, but then I'm there with them, but also to get pictures of other eye candy members like bassist Bryen and vocalist Sheep (if I was a gay or a lady, I would).
Sheep threw up halfway through their set, blamed the falafel he ate before playing.
Halfway through the last song Bryen and Sheep swap places.
Dirty Money: Yep, the singers still a mouthy cunt, still hate them. That's the bane of going to Hardcore shows in London, London Hardcore bands (actually that isn't fair, Honour Among Thieves are a London band, which goes to show that there are some gems amongst the shit but really most of it is just fucking awful). The only thing that impressed me was that they had a song called 2007 Was A Bad Year, which I like to think is a reference to the John Fante novel 1933 Was A Bad Year, which shows some degree of intelligence, maybe, maybe
Dead Swans: You know what I miss, old November Coming Fire. I know a lot of people slagged them off when they released Dungeness (which I'd still defend as the band growing and progressing) but if we're honest Black Ballads was just the shit, and add the fact that they had Thom "Violence" Dowse on bass, you just could fuck with them live. It was obvious the first time I saw this lot that they felt this way too, if NCF aren't going to play like that anymore, it's up to you. They walk out onstage and call everyone cunts for talking shit about them being on the cover of a mainstream Metal magazine, which I kind of like ("hello, welcome to the show, you're all cunts"). They run through the songs from their EP and split with Architects plus a couple of unreleased songs from the album they're working on, done in half an hour, nice, I can get an earlier train.
There was actually another show at the Tap that night, I got there just in time to miss Carmen (bad move on my part), but I did catch the last two bands.
Whitemare: Rock N Roll influenced Hardcore from Brighton, kind of reminded me of later Black Flag when they really got into ZZ Top (or if you want more contemporary comparisons; Gallows, Bars, Blackhole). I found myself really endeared to them by the merit that they didn't even look like a Hardcore band (long hair, beards, Kiss and Dio t-shirts).
Take Courage: The closet thing locally (well, Maidstone is close enough) we have to just straight up Hardcore Punk, drawing heavily from Bridge Nine bands like Ceremony, Have Heart and Verse (which I admit is stuff I don't really like but this band do it really well). They only seem to have five or six songs, rather than padding out the set with covers they keep everything short, sweet and full of energy, which is how it should be.
disco:
I miss NCF playing transgression, still