Förfest till Pretty Shitty Kjell 4 at China Station, Handen, Stockholm, March 28 2013
The Black Marias (UK), Old Fashoined Ideas (Swe) and Project 9 (Swe)
The Black Marias (UK), Old Fashoined Ideas (Swe) and Project 9 (Swe)
The Place
There was a
lot to chose from last night like Tinner (D-Beat), Real Big Fish (US-Ska).
But I
chose an event in a suburb far, far away. Handen at a Chinese restaurant.
Handen isn´t a punk nowheresland and Im not unfamiliar with the suburb because both the Punk place “Gula Villan” is placed there as well as the legendary Ultrahuset was there as well when it was a chaotic CBGBs of Sweden in the 80ies.
The event is an unofficial start up concert to the Oi! Festival Pretty Shitty Kjell 4 by the clubs Klubb Antisocial and Club Disorder. I had to travel an hour with subway´s and commuters train to get there. And to get it even more exciting you have to get yourself down a graffiti sprayed stairway made of concrete and tiles, It reminds me of an era that is gone, when Swedish suburbs looked like this, a bit like they look like in English crime stories. A perfect mood setting for some serious Oi! Music, not least when someone bombed the walls with Jamaica ska club posters. Am I in “This is England” the Swedish remake, haha? Walking down the staircase I was entering a time warp, I was back in time, I wish the extra kilos I carry around was removed by the time machine as well, but it wasn´t buggering enough.
The restaurant was full with skins and some punks with studded leatherjackets. The beer was by Swedish standards cheep. But the most obvious feeling that night, is a certain tension that proceeds PRK4 tomorrow. People are here to wait for tomorrow. Except me that fucked it up and lost opportunities to get tickets for PSK not once but several times now (Am I the biggest cunt then? Possibly).
The Crowd
Handen isn´t a punk nowheresland and Im not unfamiliar with the suburb because both the Punk place “Gula Villan” is placed there as well as the legendary Ultrahuset was there as well when it was a chaotic CBGBs of Sweden in the 80ies.
The event is an unofficial start up concert to the Oi! Festival Pretty Shitty Kjell 4 by the clubs Klubb Antisocial and Club Disorder. I had to travel an hour with subway´s and commuters train to get there. And to get it even more exciting you have to get yourself down a graffiti sprayed stairway made of concrete and tiles, It reminds me of an era that is gone, when Swedish suburbs looked like this, a bit like they look like in English crime stories. A perfect mood setting for some serious Oi! Music, not least when someone bombed the walls with Jamaica ska club posters. Am I in “This is England” the Swedish remake, haha? Walking down the staircase I was entering a time warp, I was back in time, I wish the extra kilos I carry around was removed by the time machine as well, but it wasn´t buggering enough.
The restaurant was full with skins and some punks with studded leatherjackets. The beer was by Swedish standards cheep. But the most obvious feeling that night, is a certain tension that proceeds PRK4 tomorrow. People are here to wait for tomorrow. Except me that fucked it up and lost opportunities to get tickets for PSK not once but several times now (Am I the biggest cunt then? Possibly).
The Crowd
The crowd
were mostly skins of various ages and styles, from different parts of Sweden and from other
countries as well. Some punks with GBH and Casualties on their patched jackets
and torn pants.
The skins stand quiet and watch the bands, the punks are in front and, from time to time, steering up rather a violent moshpit that makes the organizers sweat a bit over their equipment. And for a while I wondered if the light rig would be knocked over and falling down. But that was worries in vain, nothing got trashed. But the alcohol took its toll and in the end the crowd is as exhausted as drunk.
The skins stand quiet and watch the bands, the punks are in front and, from time to time, steering up rather a violent moshpit that makes the organizers sweat a bit over their equipment. And for a while I wondered if the light rig would be knocked over and falling down. But that was worries in vain, nothing got trashed. But the alcohol took its toll and in the end the crowd is as exhausted as drunk.
The Bands
Project 9
First out was P9, A Swedish Oi! Band that , It is the band that made me choose this event before the others. And the first few bars made me wonder why, the sound was terrible in the beginning, a crappy hung over rehearsal studio sound. No other genres would got away with it than Oi! and Hard Core. I accept it as a part of Oi!, Even the stars at Fridays and Saturdays PSK have sounded terrible both on records and live. But the soundman got it better during the set, I guess he have been happier. The PA system seemed to be the problem, which is something all bands suffered from during the night. The vocals are so distorted during the P9 gig that it´s hard to figure out what the singer was saying or singing.
The band itself did deliver a pretty much standard constellation of Oi! Songs and I didn´t see them having a huge hit in their set. The very charismatic singer lead his bunch of skins and mohawk punks into an enjoyable concert, where his way of using his rhythmic singing, and chorus chants were the satisfaction. He was very charismatic and that found its way out in the crowd and on me as well. It was no surprise they sounds a bit like Lowlifes (They share many members) but are even better. It is the same call and response in the songs that is Lowlifes strength. And last night P9 mastered it. This is Oi!. But I think, despite of the PA system shortcomings, that they could vary the guitars a bit, to get an extra punch. They finished with a Swedish cover of 4 skins “Evil”, “Elak” which was funny.
First out was P9, A Swedish Oi! Band that , It is the band that made me choose this event before the others. And the first few bars made me wonder why, the sound was terrible in the beginning, a crappy hung over rehearsal studio sound. No other genres would got away with it than Oi! and Hard Core. I accept it as a part of Oi!, Even the stars at Fridays and Saturdays PSK have sounded terrible both on records and live. But the soundman got it better during the set, I guess he have been happier. The PA system seemed to be the problem, which is something all bands suffered from during the night. The vocals are so distorted during the P9 gig that it´s hard to figure out what the singer was saying or singing.
The band itself did deliver a pretty much standard constellation of Oi! Songs and I didn´t see them having a huge hit in their set. The very charismatic singer lead his bunch of skins and mohawk punks into an enjoyable concert, where his way of using his rhythmic singing, and chorus chants were the satisfaction. He was very charismatic and that found its way out in the crowd and on me as well. It was no surprise they sounds a bit like Lowlifes (They share many members) but are even better. It is the same call and response in the songs that is Lowlifes strength. And last night P9 mastered it. This is Oi!. But I think, despite of the PA system shortcomings, that they could vary the guitars a bit, to get an extra punch. They finished with a Swedish cover of 4 skins “Evil”, “Elak” which was funny.
After the
concert Jonas the singer from Gatans Lag claimed, infront of me and the by then
sweaty and exhausted singer, that the singer of P9 (I didn´t catch his name
right) was the most charismatic in the genre, which was wrong, Jonas himself
holds that title, but have in many ways to look out now, haha.
Old Fashioned Ideas
Old Fashioned Ideas
Old
Fashioned Ideas will strike you down with it´s heavy sound, not least with that
enormous voice of the singer.That was almost the case last night. The Southern
Swedes are here to conquer the capital, at least our taste in bands, that you
can tell, and why not. With their distorted and a big sound they sounds like
Motörhead goes Oi! With all the limitations the Oi! genre brings to it in
speed, songs variation and musical skills, that is not said in a bad way. Sound
wise this is the highlight of the night. The songs were catchy, they got the
best sound all night and the voice of the singer Per is dominating the whole
neighbourhood.
There is a connection between the OFI and the
next band, the Black Marias, because the split 7inch record. And the next band
should be just fine…
The Black Marias
Last in
line is what should be the main, band the English band, The Black Marias. But
they didn´t really live up to that. The PA didn´t give them the mighty sound
they would have needed to sound like the main band. The singer really tried his
best and even if he is charismatic got a good voice and manners from a man of
the world, it didn´t gave them the boost they should have to knock the other
bands off stage. The alcohol exhausted crowd had not too much left to answer
with. The Alcohol Liberation Front, the bunch of Cunt´s, Black Marias didn´t
got any help from the Alcohol. And I don´t know if that affect the bands
performance, but a few songs into their set they starts to sound sloppy,
untight and unfocused. Possibly did they
suffer a bit from the sound equipment didn´t give them a break. The singer tries
real hard but the plane won´t fly, his voice manage to break the boundaries the
PA holds for a while, but in the end, it´s doomed. I don´t came here with the
intention of being a grumpy cunt, but I felt it coming along with the things
that didn´t click. It is entertaining when they lash out on everybody, themselves
and anyone as being Cunts, and so does the crowd feel as well from telling of
their reactions. At records it sounds fine, but not here. At their best they
are quite good but the unfocused parts are a letdown. Their new unpublished songs
was hard to relate to etc. On the other hand the Minority Report is a really
good song where they are good both in performance and the hit quality of the
song.
But mostly
what was wrong was that, I think, everybody had Cock Sparrer, Infa Riot, Gatans
Lag, Agent Bulldogg in their minds thas night. You can tell that everything is a
slow countdown to PSK . I left in a hurry to take the one hour trip home. To
the other part of Stockholm, while doing so I left “This is England, the
Swedish edition” behind to be back in the real world the “trista förorten”, where
“we live in the Suburbs 7 days a week”. On my way home I discovered that I probably
blown my visit to PSK4 to hell, bloody buggering Hell!
Worth the money?
180Skr is the double I pay for a concert like this in Stockholm and it wasn´t twice as good as them, opposite I say. But with the cheep beer prices and the general feeling of it all I would say yes. Did I regret going here in favor to Pussy a GoGo or Debaser? No!
The clubs Klubb Antisocial and Club Disorder are walking a different path then the most Stockholm punk clubs, but I think they enriches the scene and that can´t be wrong. And I think it is good to get my lard ass going outside my circles, like a China restaurant in a Swedish suburb that time warped me to the 1980is this is England.
No comments:
Post a Comment