Review - Street Dogs, Greta Kassler, Spotlicks and Twopointeight

Saturday July 7, two concerts roughly at the same time.
At Broder Tuck was the line up Spotlicks, Greta Kassler and STYGG
At Debaser Medis was the line up Two point eight and Street Dogs (US)

STYGG didn´t get any review because I missed them because of Street Dogs.

The Places

Broder Tuck

The Broder Tuck Restaurant is rather big, the concert room in the basement are small, very small.
The contrast between the gangster look´a´like door men, their general clientel on the ground level and the Anarchists, Metal Heads and Punks in the basement are striking. The sound is mostly terrible, and loud. Very loud.

Debaser Slussen
Debaser Slussen togheter with Debaser Medis, Strand and Rocks the only decent rock clubs in Stockholm City. Debaser Slussen and Medis are mainly built up around concerts. The Stage a Debaser Slussen are however a photographers nightmare because most of the light are pointed towards you, not at the band. But the sound are generally much better than most of the clubs and stages in the City. Debaser in general attracts mostly a rock audience, not necessary a punk crowd. Tonight there are a lot of punk fans in the bulding, along with rock n rollers.


The Crowds

Broder Tuck

If you consider that Street Dogs are giving a free concert two subway stops away and most people are away on vacation it´s amazingly much people at Broder Tuck this particular night. As I written before, Broder Tuck got a horrible little basement as their concert room. And the bands seem pleased that so many showed up.

Debaser

Not only were we blessed this last days with high air humidity, which isn´t too common in Stockholm, the Debaser Slussen club was packed and hot as well. When I arrived more than halfway through Twopointeight´s gig there were like an wall of warm sweaty air to team up with me when I enter. It was packed so I can´t say I have a very good place to see the end of their gig from.

When it comes to the Street Dogs I got a perfect spot just outside the moshpit, and If I been in better shape I would most certainly been in the middle of it. Even the Boston lads in Street Dogs complain about the heat. Where I stood there were a fan blowing so it was OK, but still I got a sweat soaked T-shirt after the gig.


The Gigs

Broder Tuck


Spotlicks

First out this lovely, warm summer night was Spotlicks. A three man band, or should I write two men and one woman band, a woman that  was the main singer even if all of them were on vocals. The style of their punk is mostly based in early Swedish 78 punk. The songs are built up around power chord riffing and Swedish lyrics. The sound was really bad and didn’t gave the band the chance they deserved, but got a bit better toward the end, it is a bit pity that the sound was bad in the beginning, the band was better than the sound. And it was mostly a loud treble that reach my ears. The song that stayed in my mind was about you are good as you are (Fatta att du duger) But the songs were good, they played it like I like it. No noncense here, no arty stuff, just riffs pretty fast and vocals and Clash and Ebba Grön style of drumming. I liked it and a better sound would been better, at least to more clearly hear the vocals.


Greta Kassler

Greta Kassler mix D-beat and Trall Punk. They played fast. Live that night they did it convincingly even if the sound wasn´t the best, but loud as the sound waves moved me physically a cm or something. Much better than the sound Spotlick´s had to cope with though. It was fast and tight and the two singers different voices gave the music a different feeling even if the speed was mainly D-beat. And they sang it, not shouted, not chanted or growling it. It´s political and angry. Tonight they convinced. Too bad I couldn´t stay for the last band ST. But then I had to hurry to even get in to see the Street Dogs. I didn´t have time to say goodbye to the people there.

Worth the money, 100Skr (10 Pounds)? Yes, but this came to be in the shadow of what the Street Dogs did.


Debaser Slussen

Twopointeight

There are a certain hype around Twopointeight, mostly because their commercial, radio friendly rock heavy influenced by the Clash and Rancid. And that´s what is bothering me with the band, it´s a bit to mainstream and radio friendly for my taste. Not only me BTW, other just hates themfor other reasons. They are trying too hard to be the Swedish Rancid so they lose any originality. On record the smart productions lack the energy or punk. With Greta Kassler still ringing in my ears, TPE are way too slow. OK, it´s unfair to compare a part of a gig with a full gig but tonight Greta Kassler wins, not because better voices or better tunes, but because Greta is fast and full of energy, Twopointeight was slow and seems to be too cool to get dirty, that and the total lack of energy was a let down on me, others seems to like it. Not even their best song, Red Eyes, worked for me that night. Gubbrock (Old Mans Rock) is a word they are dangerously close to it. But it seems like I am not in phase with the crowd next to the stage.


Street Dogs

It is a bit surreal to be seeing a class act as Street Dogs for free. The former Dropkick Murphys singer Michael McColgan quit the Murphys to fulfill his dream to become a fire fighter just as Dropkick broke in the punk scene. Since then he is a  Street Dog. It stood clear last night what Mc Colgan brought to the Dropkick Murphys debut record Do or Die (which is my favorite DKM record). The speed, the energy and the punk. Street Dogs lacks most of the Gaelic stuff that DKM based their career around, it´s more just punk.
First I have to take a deep breath before I go on and tell you about it, because the memory itself gives me shivers. And point out that sometimes you feel that you are in the right place at the right time. This gig was one of those moments. So seem the band feel about it as well.
I feel sorry for those suckers that ware at the Roskilde that night to see Bruce Springsteen, when it was at Debaser it was happening.

From the beginning the band showed that this was for real. The best sound all night, Loud but not as loud as during Greta Kassler. Fast and hard and mercy less! Most of their known songs, as well as a few covers and DKM songs. The two songs I missed was Power in the Union and Skinhead on MBTA (Will I ever hear my favorite song live?) but that didn´t matter tonight. Tight, heavy and fast (not D-beat fast but fast.) and with all the energy TPE didn´t showed.  
The best was the Dropkick songs near the end with old “Do or Die”  and “Get up”, the DKM songs and covers. Especially the song Do or Die (for a moment my eyes met Mikes as we were chanting out the lyrics as he pointed at me and I answered with a raised fist).

Wow, is the only word that describes it all. The Crowd did go absolutely mental from the first song. The band and the crowd ripped the place apart totally, I saw a bar table go wasted and the Gods only know what else broke, the blood was pouring down people foreheads, smashed bloody in the euphoria this night gave us. Energy, mosh pitting, sing a longs, stage diving, you name it, The good singer himself was crowd surfing as well. This was everything a punk rock concert should be about, it was there! The band seem to enjoy themselves, loving the crowd, the crowd loved the Dogs onstage. Some fans loved the Dogs onstage and was welcomed by a friendly band.
The band assured us that this moment will stay a long time in their hearts. I It will in my as well.

When the band as the second song in the encore burst out in Sham 69´s Bostal Breakout sung as Boston Breakout, then I thought both me and the whole place should explode. And so it went on throught the rather generous encore. What a night!. We all need a little Punk Rock n Roll.

It was pointless continuing drinking beer or chatting with old friends after. Because all I could think of was how blessed I´ve been to be there. So I went home rather quickly.

I went home with the worst Tinnitus in a long time, a big smile and a memory of seeing the light.
A light lit by some Street Dogs, Working class punk from Massachusetts.

Worth the money?……It didn´t cost anything, but let´s say this was one of the best concerts I´ve seen.      
Next chance for me to catch them is at West Coast Riot in Gothenburg July 26.