No Comply, Howard's Alias, Freaks Union, I Adapt and Once Over Twice - Camden Underworld Sunday 10th August.

gig review by Matt Turner

First up Plymouth's answer to post hardcore from ONCE OVER TWICE. Recommended highly by No Comply's bassist Nick and standing out a lot on a punk night. The band's sound is very dynamic and utilising the thin/full sound of post hardcore flew over a number of people's heads but there were a lot of people who did get it who just didn't like it. There were times when they had their moments - namely the staccato sections of the last song and the dual vocals halfway through the set - but they just didn't inspire anyone who wasn't already friends with them to a large degree. At times I really liked it but found there just wasn't a constant degree of quality. A lot of the guitar seemed to just be played because it fitted despite whether it actually worked or not. The band obviously have a lot of ideas but fall short on the execution.

next up was Icelandic hardcore from I ADAPT who were absolutely brutal but still retaining the punk edge of the hardcore sound. A really intense band with a lot of thought put into their hardcore. The band seemed to make a special attempt to have thought in their music and especially to include specific sections that pulp your brain matter and not just one constant stream of noise. Distorted bass and singing reminiscent of uk hardcore heros such as 5knuckle at time. It was great to see the ways all the instruments fused together in this band giving the band a strong sound that switched from being a wall to bursts of white noise each time in a slightly different way. Not a truly amazing band just yet but if you like hardcore you could do a lot worse.

After meeting the singer at the bar marvelling at his unusual methods of removing beer from people's clothes (namely using his tounge) we found that Freaks Union are everything you want in a punk band. we found the intense image not quite fitting the music which was an awesome surprise and a lesson to everyone about judging books and their covers. Freaks Union sound like a skatepunk band mixed with oi and everything else punk they can get their hands on. There were times at which i thought i was lsitening to early Bad Religion which was completely surreal and hooks and off the wall drums beats all fought for supremacy. Elements from all around the grubby punk rainbow fought their way out throughout the set and it was nice to see a band with so much energy and such a strong frontman. The other thing to notice about this band was the bass that stood out from the mix by not just following the guitar in the way of so many other crappy punk bands but adding some licks to the proceeding especially in 'Face don't fit' which was my highlight. I was so impressed i rushed out and bought their CD haldway through the fourth song. We need bands like this.

Howard's Alias got the biggest crowd of the night probably due to having some of the best songs. It's always good to find a band that you can use the word 'Kooky' to describe and Howard's Alias definately are. Tunes that have both stopping power and rhtyms and are creative is not an easy thing to acheive but it's nice to see a band going down this route getting noticed and admired for their quirky nature. A mixture of ska guitar and quiet moments with almost whispered lyrics set to great tunes especially in Doreen and ROB the later of which being the best song of the night from Howard's Alias. This band seem to be able to do something on the darker side of sanity without dissapearing up their arses and becoming un-accessable - sometimes simplicity and straight-forward rocking works well. A euphoric band with punctuation mark horns often embellishing the melody and famously catchy lick style bass. I hope this band take over the world and continue teaching kids to bend the rules.

No Comply, Now that i have had another look at their new stuff i am a happy bunny. While the new stuff may have more obvious distorted moments it still has the incredible vibe of it's predecessors something that until now i thought was only possible on system of a down CDs.
The new songs such as 'Stories' have an infectious quality delivered from the vocals and it's nice to see the guitar taking a stand of its own and not just providing a backdrop which a lot of punk bands are doing nowadays. Throughout the set Kelly was impressive bouncing around the stage giving what i thought was her best vocal performance i have seen driven by sheer blind eyed passion and energy.
Despite being one horn player down No Comply still have that rare quality that i cannot put my finger on but i think it links in with the ability i found to sing along to songs that i had only ever heard once before several months ago in a different part of London. Joined by the horns of Howards Alias for 'Your life...' and running through the classics as well as the newer stuff which even had the balls to include guitar riffs that were on the side of funk more than ska. Life is too short to not see this band especailly one that looks so happy onstage.

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