The Killing of the Firebird. DERBY STHLM and Charcoal at Nalen

Nalen is an old music dance hall in the city centre of Stockholm originally buildt in 1888. It had it´s haydays between 1930ies to 1960ies. Here the Swedish Jazz scene had one of its Meccas. In the basement there is a smaller stage and bar, often with punk clubs. Since club profile and Dj, Pelle “Kool Junk” Jansson left for England, the place have been having a more low kea profile in the punk scene. DERBY STHLM and Charcoal was the last nights two band on stage.

A bad day to have a concert, because Sweden was playing a qualifying game for FIFA World Cup at the same time, people was more or less glued to the TV sets. And it was a bank holiday on Thursday as well so many had left town for a few days taking the Friday off.
So there could been a lot more people at the gig. But the spirit was good among the people that was there. A nice time over a few pints as always in the Swedish punk scene.

Charcoal
First band on stage was Charcoal, I had never heard them before and they did nothing to make me want hear them again. I don´t like to slag a band but I found nothing in them that pleased me. I wasn´t really impressed. They weren´t really dull but played most of their material a bit too slow and lame. I got a bad feeling when they started to introduce them self as playing “Gubbrock” (old man´s rock), a rather negative label. And then they did few attempts to break away from the label but seems like they was satisfied to be mediocre. Please don´t do that when you share stage with DERBY. The songs wasn´t catchy and I think they wanted to be a more complicated than they were. The only highlight during the set was when they did cover Fo Fighters “Monkey Wrench”, then they were like different band, why didn´t you play everything like that? Well, I guess they got their fans, but I can´t be added to them.

DERBY STHLM

During the DERBY STHLM set a whole lot of anger and frustration was built up in guitarist and singer Uffe. It started from the beginning with pleads from the band to the sound man about this and that. Too little, too much blah blah, and the rather good sound of Charcoal was gone. And the animosity against sound man grow up until the end. Angry looks from Uffe up to the mixing board was through it all a part of the concert. Too bad they couldn´t focus on the music, instead of the bad things. But DERBY STHLM isn´t that way. They are unpredictable, often in a funny way. No way, the lads of DERBY STHLM will go on stage like a day at the office. It is all in or nothing! It is as uncompromising in a Jim Morrison way, the original punk way. And it ended with Uffe smashing his Gibson. Not in a posed rock star way, more of a gross misconduct way. I saw it coming but was left unable to do anything about it. It hurt to watch it, I know that that guitar meant to him. But when the beer drinkers from hell go onstage with their feelings on the sleeves of their shirts, this is what could happen.
The sound wasn’t good, but it wasn´t bad either. But it became loud, very loud. The tinnitus after was epic.

They played their standard set of songs minus the Tredje könet covers. And a really old song that I never heard before, few had. The new written “Tabula Rasa” tune wasn´t played and I guess we have to wait a bit more for it. I have never heard they play so fast before and I don´t know if it suited their songs. Maybe the anger and frustration was put in every bar they played. Was it any good? Yes, not at it´s best but good enough, some how everything was overshadowed by the guitar smashing, which wasn´t right. Because it wasn´t what the concert was about. I came to think of Paul Simonons classic frustrated smashing of his bass guitar, made famous by Penny Smith and became the London Calling cover, and a scene in the Sham 69 in China documentary, a rather sour moment that got to the Sham band. But in the end I think this was just another day in a band that do their stuff their way during a rather common concert night, that now will be remembered in the DERBY STHLM folklore for the killing of the FIREBIRD.


Worth the money? 100SEK, Yes at least DERBY STHLM and the people who were there did the night. So said my Girlfriend as well.

Worth the money for Uffe? I doubt it.



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