Sunday, April 28, 2013

Live Review - The Manics, NollKompetenz at Skål


The Manics, NollKompetenz and Utplånad at Skål (Klubb Antisocial)
April 27 2013

The Event/Club

Klubb Antisocial, is nothing what the name implies, it is very social. It isn´t the best known punk club but a club that walks its own pathways. The base is in Oi! and old school skinhead culture but have some other styles put in it as well. Like this gig with Street Punks, and Hard Mod bands. It must be clear to you now that I find most labeling of genres and bands as bullshit, so let´s say. Antisocial bring out good punk. And it is refreshing to see them go for band outside the Stockholm Scene. This was at Skål, in a cellar club under the restaurant, like is the standard way of having a punk club in Stockholm. Notable is that it have one of the smallest stages in town.

The Crowd

Mostly skinheads of various ages and styles. But also leather clad, mohawk, street punks. The atmosphere is great, everybody is there for a good time. The old punks and skins telling their old fishermen kind of stories of the older days of Oi!. Most people know each other, or at least know enough to make it almost cuddly. Those that hold some prejudice against todays skins and the Oi! genre in general should visit a Klubb Antisocial gig. More social event is hard to find than this, last nights gig. Punk gigs have relaxed and joyful atmosphere nowdays, that will mainstream media never understand.
It wasn´t packed but fair enough of people, I think.

The Bands

I missed the first band, Utplånad, so I can´t review them.



NollKompetenz
NollKompetenz is a Street Punk band ala UK82 as it is popular to label bands at the moment. That is, simple, no noncense Punk Rock, from the shithole of Finnspång. Finnspång, Jag hatar dig (transl. Finnspång I hate you) another band, Saturday´s heroes, sings in their tune “Finnspång”. And maybe because they are from where they are they seem like the played without self esteem and confidence.  When I ask them about it, they gave me funny looks like I was a mad man. You have to be humble they mumble so I guess it is what it is like in Finnspång. Their beaviour on stage is like they are prepared to be stoned and bottled off stage any minute. Don´t worry, that won´t happened. We have payed for it so now give it to us.
They got pretty good standard punk tunes. The know how to play and the singer got a good punk voice. So just add some Bollocks, Mojo, Cohones, Balls to it and you will get much better. During the set they seems like getting more and more confidence and it was getting better and better and the singer more often paid some out in the crowd. It might be in place to point out that this was one of their first gigs, and maybe their first real gig, there were a little uncertainty on that as well. I say, don´t worry guys you are good enough. And you got some of the Mohawks dancing in Stockholm, that isn´t too common. Stockholm, known for its stand like statues crowd.


The Manics
The Manics was something completely different, just like the band name says, they were manic, at least singer /guitarist Peter Aspegren. For some reason I don´t know they were only 3 guys on stage instead of 4. Dressed in grey 60ies style suites, Armed with Rickenbacker guitars and bass guitars they remind me of the Jam, I would say they were better. Big words, people told me, but I claim so is the case. They were better than The Jam mostly because the Manics have added the energetic guitar playing that Wilco Johnson made his trademark. Not the technique, but the energy. If NollKompetenz didn´t play with any confidence, the Manics put all the confidence there was in every downstroke on the six strings.
The narrow stage of Skål (ridiculous small) limited the band, that I could see, but they didn´t use that as an excuse to fail. The fact that there was a microphone trouble at start wasn´t an excuse to not doing well.
They played their closing tune Batman instrumental, like the rabbit in the Duracell Tv commercial would have done it, while the sound man replace the broken microphone, as an opening tune. They were here to conquer. And so they did. Before the gig some young skinheads asked me, -If they´re any good? During the set I can hear the same lads go, wow this is good!

However their two hit quality songs, “Gonna have Love” and “Just be there” stands out as the undisputable highlights just as the closing tune (in the encore) “Batman theme”, where they made the crowd sing a long, Batman Batman, Batman.

I can´t help feeling a bit sad over the fact that this is a band that could fit in anywhere, everywhere and still I will probably not see them on TV as they deserve. Like they could easily blow a hole in your TV set while they play in a talk show ala Letterman. They don’t live in the media cities of Malmö, Gothenburg or Stockholm to get those connections. And I guess it doesn´t help to write hate songs about the singer in the popular band Kent, Jocke Berg. Haha, but it is funny. But mostly I would say that it all to the laziness of the mainstream media. Magazines, papers, radio and Tv should have been full of The Manics if they weren´t a bunch of sheep cheering for the bands with the most free booze at their release parties. The club should been packed with critics and music business people if it just came down to the quality of the band, but so it doesn´t work.  I came to Skål to see the Manics, and I wasn´t let down. I even like them more now.


Well spent money the 100SEK. 

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