Alonzo Fas 3 at Debaser Medis May 15 2013 (release party)

Alonzo Fas 3 

at Debaser Medis 

May 15 2013

 (release party)

Since the Michael Alonzo comeback to punk, a year ago, I´ve heard the rants about the fact that Alonzo didn´t wrote all the classic KSMB songs, Johan Johansson did. Johansson this nag nag, Johansson that nag nag. And Alonzo & Fas 3 is just a KSMB cover band which is untrue. Let me put this straight! Michael Alonzo was one of two voices of KSMB in the early eighties. They were brilliant then. The songs of KSMB is still brilliant and as it showed this last year an important part of the Swedish punk song treasure.  The legacy of the band is un-mistakenly huge. Psykbryt for instance plays KSMB song regularly without someone accused them for being a KSMB cover band, so why can´t one of the original singers do it? Like Wilco Johnson wouldn´t play Dr Feelgood tunes.  In fact I would be pretty pissed off if he didn´t. Backing up his performance is something like a super group with both a core of members as well as a stream of guest performers. I wonder for instance how much core member Nicke Andersson (ex Hellacopters, Entombed) is? Alonzo & Fas 3 then changed their name to Alonzo Fas 3 which makes the band name more graphic. Not least on the record cover.
Besides KSMB tunes Alonzo Fas 3 plays some classic tunes from his second band Stockholms Negrer and new written Fas 3 material. And because of the new written material we were gathered at Debaser Medis for the release of the new record.



The Venue/Place /Crowd

It was a release party but the vinyls didn´t arrived in time from France so there was only CD avaliable. Not that I really cared about the vinyls, I prefer CD. But this France failure did annoy Alonzo who let us know about his frustration onstage. In one of the songs he really did a rant about it and I guess we all got shiver down our spines. OMG he is for real! He is not a man that passed his 50ies killing time with old tunes. He is pissed off for real, he is the real deal!
The crowd was rather big a Wednesday night like this. Besides the punk scene regulars I guess the rest was KSMB fans back in the days as well as there were some younger fans there, not even born when the songs performed was around.
Being a dull Wednesday when everyone seemed grumpy it wasn´t optimal to set the crowd on fire but in the end he did, I wasn´t in my best mood for instance after I was a biiiig smile. And The crowd didn´t tear the place down like the month before when band almost blew Stiff Little Finger off stage. But if you play KSMB and Stockholm Negrer tunes there will be sing a longs.

 The Band

Warming up the crowd was a gathering of different old times punk playing punk covers like God Save The Queen etc it seems. I missed most of it so I can´t say anything about it.

Then  Alonzo Fas 3 entered the stage in a Pink Floyd the Wall style and turned the dull Wednessday into Punk Rock n Roll poetry. The Backdrop more looking like a totalitarian banner than a punk band backdrop. The band as usual dressed in black pants and shirts with red armbands. Micke Alonzo in front in a red shirt, it made an impressive and beautiful impact on me. For a while then Alonzo was back in his Black T shirt.

I moved around in the room during the first tunes (sorry if I stepped on some toes)  to find the place where the perfect sound was and found it. By then the band had worked their way up to a frenzy that is needed for this kind of music.  Then they added another guitarist. First the guitar player from Baboon Show to be succeded by  Nicke “Hellacopter” Andersson. With three guitarist the sound was perfect. The core base player was for the day replaced with a substitute bass player skilled enough to not make any difference. With the three guitarists they then delivered the new songs with precision. Some have been around for the whole year. Some been added on later and one new song I never heard before. But it isn´t really punk tunes, more of rock tunes played by the Swedish punk elite. The songs isn´t trying to restore Alonzos former punk glory but it is exactly where he stands today, 53 years old, into politics, being a father and in love with his woman.

And I can say that “now” the new songs clicked for me. Now the coin was accepted by the soda machine. Some tunes been around for a year so the crowed have learned the lyrics and they could sing along. And in the middle of it, there was Micke Alonzo owning the place. He had proved to us that this was not a KSMB karaoke night. This was Fas 3 (transl. Phase 3).

He didn´t top his Stiff Little Fingers gig but he was on his way. Fas 3 have never sounded better and I doubt KSMB had done it better in 1981. I find it offensive that Alonzo Fas 3 isn´t booked at every rock festival this summer. I guess they would shake some life into the rather dull line ups. So please let me not hear any “Johan Johansson is better” references for a long time because that will just makes you sound stupid.

Worth the time spent there?

Yes, in fact it took away my rather damp mood. This is Spa for my mind.
Entrance was free.

BTW, it´s rather wonderful to see grown men lose it all to just freak out in a classic KSMB/Stockholms Negrer tune like it is done in a Negro Spiritual Church.

The record will be reviewed later.