Strawberry Blondes, Stiffy Jones at Snövit and Tegelhögen

Strawberry Blondes, the Wales answer on Rancid, was in Stockholm for three gigs in three days. I came to see two of them and was impressed with what I saw. To support them Stiffy Jones came along from the Stockholm suburbs.

Wedenesday, November 27at Snövit

The Crowd

Wedenesday at Snövit, not much people. As I written before, if there is a dedicated crowd at a gig, it doesn´t matter if it´s not a big crowd, because most punk clubs in Stockholm are so small it seems crowded anyway. The people gathered in the Snövit basement on wedenesday was mostly Strawberry Blondes fans and they were there for a good time. Some told me that SB been one of their favorite bands for some time and the support band Stiffy Jones thought it was surreal to be playing on the same stage as their favorites.

The Bands

Stiffy Jones

As I written before I promised to give the lads a chance that I didn´t gave them while I impatient was waiting for Topper some weeks ago. This time I gave them the chance to prove themself as a band to be counting on. In many ways they did. Good songs and a good show. But it all drowned in a massive treble noice that did cast a shade on the songs. It was hard to hear the vocals and even the bass guitar most of the time, it affected my imprssion of them. I have often noticed the same phenomena, the support band doesn´t pay the same amount of attention to all the details as the main band, wich often is the main difference between being the headline and not. Lower the volume a bit, especially the treble and you will stand out as much greater. Besides that they were quite good, with good tunes. If I should put them in a genre or compare them with some others, then it must be the Civilians but with a bit more indy touch.

Strawberry Blondes

The only thing that I can hold against the Wales band (with a Canadien bass player) Strawberry Blondes, is that, on the records they are a bit too much Rancid, Dropkick Murphys, Stiff Little Fingers and the Clash. Even if they do really good records.
Live the band played it a bit harder, a bit more playful and with their own touch, which made quite an impression on me. I didn´t expect to see such a living band. Frontman and singer Mickie Stabs was all over the stage, jumping, dancing and singing so the saliva showers anything around. The intensity was striking. Live, they didn´t have the double guitars with its fat sound like they can have on the records. But that made them more Strawberry Blondes than anything that they can be compared with. They used the dynamics of ease it down a bit before the songs erupts into loud punk rock for instance. A throbbing bass, played by Stew Page, and a drummer, Jay Rebel, that seemed convinced that his drums was something that deserved a good beating.

It was a hard working band leaving nothing to chance in the stage apearance. 100% pure punk energy that was amazing. Sorry I meant 110% punk energy.

Any band that will improve their stage presence, go and see Strawberry Blondes, watch and learn! And even when the strings broke on both the bass and the guitar they went on as the high class band they appeared as.

On Wednesday night the crowd responded with singing along in the songs and spontaniously jump on stage and grabs the mic´s and help out. The band seemed a bit surprised over it and very pleased. The crowd did go, aaaaoooaawwhh etc.

Best songs? It´s hard to pick some of their songs because the high quality of all their songs. But my favorites were ”Fight Back”, ”No Pasaran”, ”Goodbye Inspiration”, ”Social Control”,
And the genius of having a real trumpet, played by Emma Jones, in some of the songs like ”Manners and Respect” was adding on to the good feeling I got from it. The trumpet that cut in between the distorted guitar and the bass, that made them stand out in their own way.

I can truly say that I got a hole in my heart when there wasn´t any Rancid record this years as promised or any West Coast Riot festival in the summer. Strawberry Blond pretty much filled that hole in my heart with their two shows that I witnessed in Stockholm.

So

Worth the money? I paid 60+20 SEK for this and are more than pleased. Even more pleased over the fact that I was going to have another chance to see them next day.

 

Thursday November 28
at Tegelhögen, Vällingby

The Place

For once I just had a 7 minures walk to the gig.
Tegelhögen is a youth recreation centre in one of the oldest Suburbs in Stockholm. Vällingby. Vällingby was rolemodel for building good suburbian towns all over the world after the WW II. But the ideas from witch Vällingby was based on got diminised in the city plans and the European suburbs got to be dead end places full of despair. Even Vällingby in itself have lost some of it´s fame and glory.

One of the things that was important back in the fifties when Vällingby was buildt, was something for the youth to do and a place to do it in. Tegelhögen was such a place, At the place the Swedish metal scene later have had some important moments here.
In the early eighties the local band Taboo reigned here, Jocke that played in Taboo is now in Topper as well as he is working on restore the musical pride of Tegelhögen and in the area, as well as he is an recreational leader.
My girlfriend was a taboo fan back in the days and used to hang out at Tegelhögen. Which could be pretty wild gatherings sometimes. In the early days of Swedish punk those centres was very important to all punk bands that wanted to make an impact och the young punks. (My girlfriend got a nostalgia flashback of epic proportions while smoking a cigarette outside the building. Telling me stories of the wild years.)

This wednesday it was almost empty, Most punks today are grown ups, not kids.

A bunch of lost imigrant kids where there, I recognized some, dead end kids as they sometimes poetic is described in punk lyrics. A few leather jacket clad girls in their younger teens show up, as well as some girl friends of the Stiffy Jones, me and my girlfriend. It was so far from the club the night before.



There was no bar or fashionable punks, no fancyness, just boring everyday things, Brick walls, a stage that was too big for the few that are there to see it. This could been what Iggy Pop refered to as No Fun.
But that was just an illusion.

The Bands

Stiffy Jones

Stiffy Jones first gig was at the same place 9 years ago, now they were back. And treated the situation like they were playing for an overcrowded club.

OK, there was a bit too much treble this time as well. Not as bad as the night before however. But their performance was better, more intensed. I guess they learned a bit from SB the night before? Stiffy Jones convinced me that they are a good band.
The suburbian kids might got a bit of a chock with high volume, or at least they looked a bit chocked by it. This was not their average hip hop dreams about fake gangsta escapism. This was punk rock. And I could see the music reached them. Some just shook their bodies spontainiosly along to the high volume music.

Strawberry Blondes

Strawberry Blondes were in the midle of their European tour. I guess they could be a bit fed up with it, I guess they could be taking a day off just relax through this gig. But no. They really proved why they are a truly great band, a band who gained all my respect.

Actually I think I saw one of the best performances all year. Not even a week after Sham 69, the same year Stiff Little Fingers, Dropkick Murphys, Bad Religion, Asta Kask and Alonzo Fas 3, been raiding the country. They did delivered for real. Not being on stage as rockstars, but as speaking voice for all the underdogs. Being a true to the heart is in my eyes not about being a cool rock star on stage, Dr Marten boots and some fashionista haircut. It is about the social bit as well. Being there, supporting the underdogs.
I think you guys just outscored them all, all the rock stars.

My tears came during ”Goodbye Inspiration”. Shivers down my spine, total sober. A dull thursday their music took me to a emotional place where only good bands, great music and a some special occation takes me. But that moment was short, because a bass string broke and cripple it. OH NO not now, she said! The situation was brilliant rescued by the bass player and Stiffy Jones. But the magic moment was gone. Standing there in the suburb surronded by the underdog kids listen to a punk rock band singing ”Goodbye Inspiration”, well, something was shaken inside me. Shaken, in a good way. I will probaly never forget that moment. It was something outside the average punk club experience.
I loved every single moment of it. Then it was over.
The bands got their gear. While collecting them, Jocke encouraged one of the kids to enter the stage, grab the mice and do his rap. Which lead to a big applause from both the other kids, us and the bands.

That was it, the band Strawberry Blondes continued on their European tour, with another gig in Stockholm, at a sold out Klubben at Fryshuset.

 

So

The entrance was free, it was a total shame that the kids didn´t showed up in big numbers when they could get a glimpse of the real world, real rock stars from the real world. But as the drummer of Strawberry Blondes said. -The kids today is into all that crappy music, I agree.

Some extra cred to Jocke H that made Strawberry Blondes and Stiffy Jones do this.

Sham 69 the Original 77 line up LIVE a review.

For years I was envious on the Londoners and New Yorkers. They could pic and choose any classy band from any part of the world as entertainment. Stockholm is starting to get a bit of that nowday´s, a feeling of beeing where things happen. I didn´t go and see Black Sabbath on last friday, because I wanted so see Topper again, reed my gospel about them here. In true punk spirit they drag me into some late night jamming from hell after the gig, hahaha, with singers like me they don´t need enemies. On saturday there was one thing on the schedule, Sham 69.



The Band

Sham 69 was one of the single most important band for the development of the Streetpunk and Oi! movement. Sprung out of the original wave of bands in the late 1970ies they were the band that wave the punk banner when most other original bands turned into pop och post punk bands.

Unlike the Sex Pistols and The Clash rather sophisticated punk rock, Sham didn´t do more that put three chords together and in the chorus burst out in football crowd chants like the football fans did on the teraces. Mayby so, they came the true core of street punk much closer than the Clash did, for instance, with its more and more sofisticated pop. Today I find it hard to even think of a streetpunk and Oi! scene without the Sham 69 seventies adventures. Because adventures it seemed to be. Not only with the tension within the band as companion when singer Jimmie Pursey often refused to go on long tours.
Their leftish, working class aproach didn´t only gathered the poor no future kids and the outcasts in England. The ultra right wing party National Front decided as well make them their band. At least turn the Sham gigs into a platform for their nazi shit. The gigs turned into riots and the career of the Sham 69 would never see the heights that they deserved.
Besides that, many chritics and trendy know it all´s saw them as a vulgar hooligan band, not least in the Swedish music papers, where Sham together with UK Subs and the Exploited wasn´t given the same credit as other early punk bands. Sham wasn´t for the trendies, it was the real deal.

Sham 69´s football chants and underdog lyrics was the blueprint for the Oi! Movement and are so still today.

I saw Sham 69 (Pursey and some musicians) in the late 80ies where still the Swedish neo nazi skinheads (aka Boneheads) did turn up like a clockwork or Clockwork Orange gangs*. Just as the situation was when the band broke up in the late 70ies. For some reason Jimmy Pursey decided to be a rapper at the time and most of the gig was a musically breakdown. Pursey´s fighting spirit held top class. Through the whole show he mocked and humiliated the sieg heil skins so it must hurt, even in the mind of some boneheads. I saw some skins cry like babies afterwards, ripped out of an illusion that Sham 69 was their band. A pissed off Pursey did not include the boneheads in their anthem ” If The Kids Are United”.


The Crowd 2013

The Neo Nazi skinheads are almost gone in Sweden now. The ultra right wings have suits and being eager for power in the parliment now, not wearing Dr Martens and braces. The new skins in town are SHARPS, original or/and unpolitical*.
So therefor the wasn´t any core of Hitlerlovers infront of the stage as in 1988.
The crowd contained many familiar faces as well as others. Young and old, everyone there to show our affection and love to the classic band with their classic line up.

And possible was it the love and good response that made the dear old ranting singer a bit pale and numb in the beginning. Maybe he was so used to the animosity infront of the stage, so he might needed some of that to get him going? I don´t know, but when the security at the place did behave like morons, then Pursey transformed from a man on the job into a brilliant character and the true frontman of Sham 69. Was it a bit of the old punk that came out of the shadows?

The Venue

First of all, it was hard to get tickets, it was hard to even get information about the gig. It was poorly promoted. Possibly because it was a bunch of punks trying to put together their anual punk gathereing. Why on earth don´t people realize that punk legends shall play at Debaser Medis or Fryshuset with its capacity, so that more people can get tickets. On the other side it was cool to watch the band on such a small stage.
The place which I and many with me never heard of before was way under the standards of the regular clubs like Debaser or Strand. Enarena Globen was the name of it. If you live in Stockholm you understand the ridiculous in that, if not, we take that another time. The security seemed a bit taken of the amount of people and the people itself. Shaken and stired.
Inside, the 2 bars were real fast in serving thirsty punks and skins.
But I got a bad feeling about it all, not least the time it took to get all the people inside. And the bad feeling wasn´t wrong even if it turned out to be the right thing for the gig in the end.

The Gig

The band went onstage, the crowd roared like a hungry beast, eager for some Sham...
Unfortionately didn´t the security guys understand the basic concept of a punk gig and after a few songs they marched up on stage to make it look like an old The Doors show (you know where the worked up Jim Morrion having a go at the cops covering the stage). For most of the gig I saw some beefy, scared bouncers, where I should be seeing the bass player Dave Tregunna and Guitarist Dave Parson.
This was probably what Jimmy Pursey needed to be going. It was hillarious to see the psychodrama that was going on between the singer, the security and the front rows. For a moment I got the feeling that it was going out of hand.

”They gonna cut the power”, I tought, ”or there´s gonna bee a riot”,
In this hostile enviroment, Sham 69 where at their best. All of the sudden I could see that they weren´t here for the money and fame, They were the real deal.

After a while the security staff seemed to be learning their lesson, there wasn´t any situation going on, just a punk rock mosh pit having fun. Jumping and chanting like every song was a part of our DNA, which it were, at least mine.

This time we all sang along ”If The Kids Are United” even if a shitload of us were close to our 50ies and not kid´s anymore. They should change the lyrics to the more accurate ”If The Drunks Are United”.
”Bostal Breakout”, ”Hersham Boys”, ”Angels With Dirty Faces”, ”Questions and Answers”....you name it. Most classic tunes where there. Those five mentioned was, in my mind, the best**.

Mr Pursey didn´t lost the opportunity to praise Olof Palme, our murdered Prime Minister, our JFK. And praise Sweden and Stockholm as one of the coolest places in the world. So the Stockwell tune was suitable renamed Stockholm. I guess Tregunna felt good as well with our response compared to when he played in Stockholm with the Lords of The New Church in the 80ies when the crowd was legendary stone cold.

Without the tension between the band and the boys with security badges it would been like any other concert. They did their songs, the crowd showed their affection and blah, blah, blah.
Now the band could show how they worked back in the days without being sad nostalgia. Part of it because that their songs are still vital and their political stance is as important in our days as it was in the good old days. From where I stood (Jumped like a madman) the sound was terrific and the moshpit kept me alive.

In the end the bouncers smiled a bit and possibly understood that this was exactly like things should be.

Worth the money 300 SEK. Definately (I did go for free however, but would gladly have paid for it)


Oh I forgot, there was another band as support, Stilett, I didn´t see them and will give them a chance next time.

* Note Cicci Rehnström Suurna´s documentary about the 80ies STHLM´s skins.

**The Set List, the Anthology is the classic songs rerecorded and released this year 2013.

3rd annual Ultrahuset celebration at Kafé 44, Tredje Könet, Klägg and Gonzo Morales live review

The Venue (and a background)

For the second generation of Stockholm punks Ultrahuset was a second home. Basically it was a family house in a suburbian middleclass area that for some reason was turned into an anarchy punk place (why I didn´t know then and I still don´t). The concerts where held in the living room that was turned into a riot pad. The place was an exception in the well planned capital of Sweden, Stockholm.
An exception that became a role model for other places such as Pinkruset and  Vita Huset in Täby. But Ultra Huset in Handen was the #1 stage of both new  and older punkbands. Ebba Grön,  KSMB, Black Flag (Henry Rollins edition) and Dave Grohls Scream did play there.
The authorities and neighbors did manage to close it down in 1987-88. And as a symbolic act, some punks thought it was a good Idea to torch the place and burn it down instead of hand it over to the enemies.  With it, a wild and crazy part of Swedish punk history died.

Swedish punk didn´t. And so did not did the activities that moved to different places. Kafé 44 at the innercity island of Södermalm was the most notable extension of the activities of Ultra.

Since 3 years now Ante and Frölis have organized an annual celebration of Ultrahuset with bands that where there when it happened. This year Tredje Könet and Klägg was the main event.

The music and punk scene in all its glory, what as most famous with Ultra was the buns that Tompa Eken baked, and still does at Kafé 44, or 44an as most people say. The best buns I ever tasted!
I didn´t get any last naight Buhu. I guess I didn´t paid enough attention or something.

With both Tredje Könet and Klägg on stage you will have the background to DERBY STHLM that roams the Stockholm stages today. Before I dive into that I will say there were two more acts this night. The first was Billey Shamrock which I missed. And the Danes Gonzo Morales which had nothing to do with Ultrahuset and whose music was a bit apart from the nostalgia punk that was going on.

The Bands

Gonzo Morales

Apart from that they did a smashing good concert. The sound was excellent and their concept that might have been silly with its distorted vocals and tremolo guitars was a blast, hypnotic and catching. I wished they have had the opportunity to play on their conditions, not squeezed in between Klägg and Tredje Könet. Definitely will I listen more to them because they were quite good.
Together with a band like Nej they would have made a great lineup.

Klägg

I never heard Klägg back in the days, (which is weird because I hung out with Turbos brother Tommy). It was something that you read written on the wall in punk style graffiti.
I did a review of their DIY album this spring.
Live they were good. They were as aggressive and hard as I like to remember the bands from the old age. The agitating singer that where all over the place trying to wind up the not so young audience to the guitars with its Clashy hooks, tight drums and the bass players insane manners (the same as in DERBY STHLM) made it a good concert even with today´s standards. It might have been a nostalgia night but their performance and songs seemed surprisingly fresh.

Tredje Könet

Tredje Könet had their days in the mid 80ies. With its catchy pop punk I will say they were procursors to both trallpunk and the catchy rock punk that copy Rancid today. They got very strong melodies in all their numbers, but, the crowd where there to hear their two minor hits, “Spindlar” and “Godismannen”.  “Spindlar” covered by the French band Sans Sursis as well as DERBY STHLM frequently cover “Godismannen”. But  “Människor I nöd”, “En neger” and “Jag vill inte” is still real good punk rock songs that hold its banner high.
 It must been like home to Leffe when he last night was in a different band than DERBY STHLM, but still got a bass player in the center of the stage jumping up and down like a madman, or should I use madwoman instead. Ylva was one of those females that back in the days seems to refuse to be nice and quiet or just be pretty. Was it the whole rock star number onstage?
Still even if she leaves the tits covered nowdays as Leffe points out, she is all over not wanting to leave the stage clean for guitar playing male egos. The mocking between Leffe and Ylva onstage as well as between the band and the crowd was a part of the entertainment. Tredje Könets EP “4 hits” was one of my first buys when I moved to Stockholm in the mid 80ies and it is with a certain sadness I realize that this was a, one time only, event. I wish they continued because I felt I want that, I realized I missed them.

However the essence of the night is spelled DERBY STHLM. Whatever the two main acts did back then is refined in DERBY STHLM, and it was fun to see where the hell they came from so clearly.

I should mention the spontaneous 2 number gig Psykbryt and DERBY STHLM (named by the crowd as Derby Psykbryt) did in two KSMB numbers rather improvised, just like it could be back then.

The crowd

The crowd was mostly the regulars at Punk venues as well as some others. And because of the Ultra connection to the gig the average age was past 40. Pogoing there was to a certain point, but mostly it was more the Stockholm style of standing like statues kind of crowd. However the crowd grabbing the mikes in the chorus was more like it was back then at Ultra, where the was no real stage and the crowd was more or less standing in the band area, just like it should be.  Especially during the covers.

Covers like “Ronka”, “Jag vill dö” and “Pervers politiker”

And so

Worth the money? 100 SeK, Yes. But that price was an capitalistic outrage compared to Ultrahuset standards. Times have changed, that is clear.

Asta Kask and Alonzo Fas 3 at Debaser Slussen (Live review)

Asta Kask (first ever releasepaerty) with
Asta Kask and Alonzo Fas 3 onstage.
at Debaser Slussen, Stockholm

All good summers are defined by a certain event or party in the beginning of it. You know when all is right. Last night the sun decided to take a break and give away for the rain. The rain took a break in time for us to show up at the Debaser Slussen outdoor bar for a beer before the in advance sold out concert with Asta Kask at their release party of their new album “Handen på hjärtat”, with Alonzo Fas 3 as support. The weather didn´t look like it was this night the summer parties started. But the band that played last night did have a word in it, they made it happened. I spoke a few words with Micke Alonzo before the gig and he seemed very relaxed. As the crowd started to gather up for entering the concert area inside the club the amount of punk rock stars teamed up in numbers, Troublemakers, Psykbryt, Baboon Show, Ligisterna, Nasum… you name it. This magic moment no one wanted to miss. But many did to their anoyment missed it. Note, that Kiss played for 50 000 at Friends Arena and there was a punk festival going on in town at the same time.


Alonzo Fas 3  

The concert started with the KSMBs album “Rika barn leka bäst” intro then they went into “602” and then the party was on. I can´t say I ve heard them better onstage. The band was perfect tight, the sound good and the connection between the crowd and the band was there from the first chord. Even the new song “Matilda” that I´ve been a bit doubtful about, was in its right element. There was no question that a record means a lot to a band like this, to any band. All the new songs got sing a´longs after the record was released last month. People were now familiar with the new songs. The mosh pit was on and I bet there was more sweat there than in the Stockholm Marathon than had been going on the same morning. The crowd response seems to trigger the men on stage to an excellent job.
“Dörrterror”, “Klockan 8”, “Det förlovade landet”, “Dansa som en fjäril”, “Det bästa som hänt” etc.
In between Alonzo get personal and told us that he was a battered kid in his childhood. I realize that the stage persona Alonzo can talk about matters that might be harder to tell in person a bit like theraphy. And I think it´s one of the reasons he and the band have gotten from good to great.

The crowd demanded an encore in a very loud way. And so they did. With Blomman from Troublemakers, Micke and Bonni from Asta Kask doing “Aomreaggae (Harrisburg)”  and “Jag vill dö” as rather chaotic numbers all in the tradition of punk all the legends on stage brought to us a long time ago,
a perfect start to the evening.

Asta Kask

Asta Kask got a gigant moshpit from the first down stroke on the distorted guitars. Like Asta kask was here to prove that they are the main band of Swedish old school punk. It was already sweaty and full of adrenaline in the moshpit when Alonzo Fas 3 went off stage, Asta just turned up the heat a bit. Got some more to join the pit. “Psykiskt instabil”, TVn” and more did the job, Just to cool it down a bit with a bunch of new songs that most people never heard before.  Due to technical problems the Spotify release of the new album “Handen på hjärtat” wasn´t up until a few hours before the concert. And the most new songs were unfamiliar to me so I didn´t went berserk during them, but I backed off a bit to look upon them with a bit of others glasses. On stage I could see a band that have grown from a 2:30 fast tune kängpunk band to a band that could be a big stage main band. The new songs was like they were having a big stage in mind for the epic concerts . And possible will that be so when people know the new songs. What made me go berserk was “Inget ljus” and in the moshpit I thought, if I die of a heart attack now it would be great. “Patriarkatet”, “AB böna och be” and “Psykopaten” made people sing along like they never done anything else. Like “Dom får aldrig mig” steered up violent pogoing.
 The old crowd pleasers got the crowd sing a long in a volume that was incredible “Especially during the slower “Psykopaten”. I never heard such loud calls for encores like last night. That’s when the stage diving began. And the band invited ex band members to join them on stage. “Ringhals Brinner”, “Vill inte va med” was excellent crowd pleasers. Even if they played a long set, they left out tunes like “Lasse liten”.

But we wanted more. The whole crowd demanded a second encore, that, the

band hadn´t planned for…so they made a lottery where members of the audience could pick a song written on a bit of paper. “hjärndöd” was one of them.


And so…

Outside the sweaty club, in the outdoor bar, the party was in full bloom, but as much I enjoyed the moment, the perfect start of the summer, I also felt numb and empty, now it was all over. Others said they wanted to find another party or club to keep them in that terrific mood. I doubt they did found that.

Worth the money, 180SEK?  I can´t help feel like I wanna do it again, and again and again.

Ligisterna and DERBY STHLM at Skål (Live Review)

The Place, The Club

Possible have Klubb Antisocial gone from being an obscure Oi! club, to become the best punk club in town. It is relaxed and just a cool place to be. The place Skål is located at the wrong side of Södermalm island far away from most of the punk clubs. “Knivsöder” (Knife Söder) the area is called in the local folklore due to its history of drug related stabbings. That is history now as the hipsters and the nouveau rich moving into the area. But that shouldn´t stop you from attend their gigs.
It is very social there. Last night it was a meltingpoint of three different part of the punk scene, The Antisocial regulars, Ligisterna and DERBY STHLMs entourage. It might sound weird but Ligisterna and DERBY STHLM have never seen each other play or even shared a stage, but now it happened. These two top bands on the same bill was a dream scenario and you just pay 60SEK to see them. Brilliant!

However the cellar club isn´t without its problems. The stage must be one of the Worlds smallest. The roof height I very low, especially on stage and the stage sound is pretty much the sound you as a crowd will hear as well. On the other side there will be an intimately atmosphere even if there are few in the audience. Last night it was packed, not entirely full but pretty close to it.

The Bands

Ligisterna

In the basement of Skål, Ligisterna was meeting a new audience that never heard them before, never heard of them before as well as people familiar with their stuff and I doubt they let anyone down. They were ready to rock even if the sound wasn´t optimal.  The mini stage didn´t alowe bass player Cabbe to jump along and move as much he is used to but otherwise nothing was different. the same energy as always. Despite some unbalance in the sound they did a convincing set but to my annoyence they did left out some of their better songs as “SAAB”, “Skitliv”, “Slav” etc. And many in the audience wanted to hear “Soptipp” as well. On the other side we got some new songs, just as good as the old. One a bit accurate today in the shadows of the Husby riots,” you just wanna dance I just  wanna destroy” was the chorus, but sung in Swedish of course. The singer Bojan aka Niklas wasn´t as funny in his comments between the songs as he used to be, but very focused to deliver a good set. And so were the whole gang onstage. But they have a way to communicate with the audience that is breaking down the borders between the rock band onstage and the crowd.

As an encore they did play a little trick on the audience. “En gång till” (One more time) did the crowd shout. And the band deliberately interpret that as the last song was the one to be played once again. So they did play the last played song as the encore. Haha, very funny.

DERBY STHLM

DERBY STHLM manage always to create chaos onstage during their sets. Often their instruments is broken in a way or two. Last night Uffe did go hard on the strings on multiple guitars and had to ask Ligisterna of support to lend him a guitar. Unfortionately Ligisterna just went upstairs to prepare their CD and Vinyl sales so he had to the last number with missing strings. Who cared? It was as good as it was anyway.

Before that the football crazy mad men delivered an entertaining set as always. They are a band that are growing in popularity and despite the chaos on stage, they always deliver a great set. Last night was no exception.  No sweat was spared. Before the gig on Facebook, DERBY STHLM, more or less told the crowd to become a big choir that would help them out. So when they opened up the stage during the Ebba Grön cover “Radion” not only Psykbryt did take the stage in possession as usual, some of the Ligisterna and others as well as I did grab the mics to shout along Lalalalala in the Ebba Gröns 1979 classic, “Radion”. Before that, the French singer Nico of Sans Sursis did his French version of Tredje könets* “Spindlar”, “Cyntia”. Unexpected and very punk good. During the set the microphones was handed out at the audience to use, like to break the borders between the band and the crowd, to blur the dividing line, just in the tradition of DERBY STHLM ideology. And they did create that old school punk feeling of belonging and be a part of something bigger.  Both Ligisterna and DERBY STHLM are always a sight to see, last night was no exception.

And so

Last night was a night when the angry working class ethos got heard onstage. With frustration delivered with a message in punk songs not as thrown bricks. Even if both bands made joke about they rather be out throwing bricks.
60SEK was cheap for such an entertaining night as it was.



*Leffe of DERBY STHLM played in Tredje Könet.

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.

Attentat at Debaser Slussen - I click on the "Like" button (live review)

Ther will be pictures later, please stay tuned.

The Crowd

Some smart ass booked Attentat the same night as Sweden played an important qualifying match for the next Football (Soccer) World Championship. Or maybe did they know what they were doing. The Club Debaser Slussen had to have open anyway and I can´t think of many bands that could attract such crowd under the same circumstances, than Attentat. Let´s say it was almost half full and it was decent from a Gothenburg band that tries to convince Stockholm about their greatness. On the good side, there wasn´t any trendies or hipsters around because of the hype, this was real to the bone punk fans, and even to the core Attentat fans. The young with studded jackets, skins and mohawks, in front jumping around, in the back the beer bellies chanting in every chorus of the old songs like they hasn´t done anything else the last decades than practice on chanting that they don´t want a new Opera house, that “you” should leave them fucking alone and they are birds without legs. Surprising to see so many young and old skinheads find their way to Attentat, I click on the “Like” button.

The Place

Debaser Slussen´s days seem numbered because of the rebuilding of the whole area, and I won´t feel sorry about it. I don´t like the way they have lit up the stage or the club in general. Tonight the bar service is great and that makes it OK.

The Bands

The Nature

It is a horrible booking to let The Nature up on stage as a support act to Attentat. It doesn´t give the band The Nature the chance they deserve and the crowd (me) the right mood. The Natures trashy indie pop should be fine any other night, but now I can´t relate to them as anything else that something that should end as fast as it is possible. Too bad, another night I might liked them, but not last night.

Attentat

Attentat was a most important *band in the Swedish punk flora, starting out as a hard 77 type of band in 1978, they transformed to a mainstream rock punk band that attracted attention from national broadcasted media in the early 1980ies, to be back at small pub gigs at Tre Backar in the end of the decade. The ever young teenager (at least in his lyrics) singer Mats Jönsson seems to know how to speak to young and frustrated generations in his lyrics.

I can´t think of any other punk band that can play a ballad of fear and shortcomings and get some stone faced skinheads, mohawk punks and beer bellied drunks to sing along in it, all together. Attentat get such a thing going, very natural. Maybe because they are very honest about NOT having any Macho issues shown in songs like “Manskomplex”, a song from a never released demo* in 1981 but still a big crowd pleaser. It is a lot of Woahhh waouhh aeaeaeahh in their chorus that makes it easy to sing along with. But it doesn´t come for free to the band. As I pointed out many times, the Stockholm crowd is a rather stiff crowd, Attentat seems to take that as a challenge, and with their bond to the crowd and routine they manage to get the crowd going and it looks like that most people have a jolly good time. I know I got it.
But it isn´t all trouble free, there is one annoying thing with the band onstage, too many new songs. The new songs isn´t played with the same obvious Attentatness as the old tunes.  The new album “Fy fan” is a complex album and all of the songs doesn´t manage to compete with their old classics at such a night as this. Not that they are bad songs but there is better song from their old days that are better. On the other hand, I fully understand them, they are here to convince us that they have a future as a vital band full of new ideas and strength more than a punk revival act to cash in on old glory.  “Fattiga och rika” and “Dö som en hund” make their way to my heart. “Gilla mig” doesn´t have the same strength, but seems like it is very much an open gateway to Mats Jönssons frustrated heart. He introduce it as song about a pathetic phenomena, to spend our days going for the most “Like” clicks on Facebook. Mocking himself, the bass player Crippa (I often “Like” click his posts, haha) and us in the audience. It is funny and thoughtful but I rather seen them played some of their old classics like “Hej Gamle man”, “Hårding” or else of their song treasures.


And so...

Worth the money? 100SKr Yes! Just to see the Bass player “Crippa” do the 1,2,3,4 count, in Stockholm dialect (this time only, he claimed) was worth the price of a beer.

* I travelled miles to see Attentat as one of my first live punk shows in the early 80ies, collected their early singles with a certain eager as many others did.

**  Now you can find it on compilation albums.

Köttgrottorna 30 years - Concert Review

The Event

Köttgrottorna you can call the first Trallpunk band, the inventors of it. I don´t think the band was the first to be connected with that label. Actually I don´t think they really care about what. Happy and Mongo came out of the ruins of the broken up band Incest Brothers, one of Swedens first wave of 70ies punk band that gained recognition, formed in the northern satellite town of Stockholm, Järfälla.  The Band started as Trekant (transl. threesome / triangle) but changed some members to form what saw the world as Köttgrottorna. It all started as a joke according to the band members. And the Joke continued for 30 years. Humor have always been a part of their public image, often a bit twisted, but they are also deadly serious about political issues, always in the oppositions of abuse of power.
I´ll guess most Swedes that been into punk seen them at least once. I´ve seen them now and then from time to times through the years. Now it was time for them to sum up the 30 years as a band.

The Place

Debaser Slussen is one of the only real rock clubs made for the reason of rock concerts in Stockholm. It´s days are numbered because the will tear down and rebuild the whole neighbourhood soon. Until then it is there. From a photographers point of view its horrible, because most of the spotlights are from behind of the band.

The Crowd

If you been around so long as Köttgrottorna been, then there will be a crowd of mixed ages. Everything from teenagers to beer bellied veterans. Mohawks, die hard Köttgrottorna fans, old skins and the ordinary rock fan all in a turmoil.
The feeling of a birthday party is there in the packed club. It´s crowded and sweaty but not unfriendly.

The other bands.

First out is Derby STHLM that gives the night a perfect start, a very professionally performed set with the characteristics of their way of doing it. In my world they would fit perfect as a support act to Stiff Little Fingers. Then Roger Karlsson and band followed, living out his Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan dreams or something (sorry that wasn´t fair but …). It´s not my cup of tea, so I didn´t pay too much attention. I bet he´ll not cry over that, the man is a legend in this circles so he got his fair share of supporters to hail him. Then Johan Johansson with band followed. I´m not too impressed with his later years works. But the man is a genius and his KSMB songs are Swedish history, especially the "602" tune, he plays to close his set with.
Then the crowd is so worked up, I wondered for a brief moment how Köttgrottorna would respond to it, would they, could they?

Köttgrottorna

My worries came to a shame. From the first step Stefan “Mongo” Enger put on the stage floor he owned the place. The funny, ever mocking frontman of the 4 man band just knew it was his night in the limelight. They played all their hits. New songs such as Afrika,, Raj raj, Online, Bolla med Zlatan as well as old crowd pleasers such as Hjälp till Hjälplöshet, The Ornitologs, Pendeltåg, Älska Mig, Sista festen, Zuga and many more. Some with a little help from the two members no longer in the band and invited guests from other bands. The sound is good and the crowd are there to tango (Slamdance and Pogo). Basically most their songs are offsprings from the sons Louie Louie/Wild Thing and their rythm. Which is perfect to jump up and down to. In it they throw a medley based on "No Limit" mixed with songs like "That’s the way, (aha aha) I like it" and A.P.A.´s “Mengele”, hillarious, brilliant and very funny. The new songs were just as good as the older classics but all in the crowd havn´t been taken it to it´s heart yet as they have done with the older tunes.  You could tell. Because tonight every song is a singalong, big time. From the second tune to the end, the chanting from the crowd are as loud as what the singer himself can produce.

Mongo went on through the whole set mocking the band members and guest artist in a very funny manner in his attempt to tell the truth about their career, it could been roosting if it wasn´t all lies just to give Mongo a nice way to present the next tune. I´ll guess, Guld Lars, Happy and Janne are quite used to it, haha. Per from Charta 77 was blamed to be prejudice against Asians and on it went. Quite funny.
It all went crazy for a while  just as it should. A dude hit the roof beams (it´s very low roof height at the club) with his forehead while trying to stage dive, I hope he didn´t died. It´s like the scene from their song “Sista Festen” but for real. People didn´t want the set to end and when it all was over we all knew that the last 30 years wasn´t a completely waste of time.

With guests from in itself classic bands like Coca Carola, Charta 77 and the legendary Johan Johansson (of KSMB, Strindbergs, John Lenin) it showed the position 30 years of struggle in the Swedish punk scene with its ups and downs, the band holds.

What I personally appreciated most was the playing of the pre-Köttgrottorna song “Människor Smakar gott” (Originally published by the band Trekant in 1982, that then was turned into Köttgrottorna in 1983).

When I turn 30 I will have a party like this. Wait I did turn 30, 18 years ago. Darn! Well this blog might do it, yeah right….Im babble crazy talk now…so I quit it here.

Worth the Money?

110Skr,YES, it was a bargain!

The Krooked and Greta kassler at Copperfields (review)

Club Dislocated Fridays at Copperfields looks like a bit of small sucess. A rather decent crowd showed up this Friday for some Stockholm punk. I had just bought my first beer when the tragic news reached me. Ligisterna have canceled. The reason why I was there had pulled out because of illness. Still, there was three more bands on the bill and I thought they really had to deliver to make the  it worth the effort going there.

The Place
Copperfields is a pub that got a stage. Still they have tables up next to the stage which makes moshing hard. Some tries it however, even I for one song. No one will cry if they removed some of the front tables.

The crowd
 I estimates it as a good crowd, both people with punk patches/studed jackets and Lonsdale dudes, Skinhead girls and casuals. I spoke to a fellow that just happened to had a few pints in the restaurant and was on the way out when Greta Kassler started. He and his buddies stayed for the rest of the night, loving it. Possibly was it a good move to start having the club outside Södermalm.

The Bands

Greta Kassler

First out was Greta Kassler, a trallpunk band that made that melodic genre a bit faster, a bit harder. And with the Ligisterna absent the band do step out of the shadows. Any obscurity about this and that is blown away tonight. Tight, fast and raw with very good sound. Best song? "Kasparovs Parti", possibly. But my doubt about GK is that their melodies doesn’t stick in my mind, I know that they got lyrics about important stuff but the lines doesn’t stick,  it is possible that it is me? Tonight I don´t find that´s a problem, the performance is convincing as it is.

The Krooked

In my eyes the Krooked have been the Ligisternas support act. Tonight with Ligisterna absent they stand out real fine and proved that they can be a main act just as good the Civilians was last week.
However I have the same problem with them as with Greta Kassler. I have a hard time to remember a catchy tune after the last chord is strummed. But in the moment they play they are a good, entertaining band that is both hard working and seems to have a passion for the spirit of Punk Rock n Roll, and when they do as they do tonight it´s great.

and
The last band wasn’t my cup of tea at all so I don´t review them at all, I had a chat with Greta Kassler instead.

Worth the money? It was free! But I don’t understand why more people are not there? Because this is the world famous Swedish punk played for free!

Link, Ligisterna, Murdering Murders and Handgranat at Broder Tuck review 6/5-12

There will be pictures later....

The Place

Broder Tuck I described at Ligisternas and the Dräperz review in earlier this year. It isn´t the best of places to see bands at. But at least I can see them, so I don´t whine to much about it.

The Crowd

It was a pretty fair crowd a Sunday night at the narrow basement of Broder Tuck. Sunday isn´t directly t the ball of a week. So I am surprised that, in the end, so many showed up. The concert room at Broder Tuck is in my mind pretty close to a disaster from my crowd point of view. The sound is usual quite bad. But tonight at least Link showed it is possible to get it to sounds good.
The place in itself doesn´t invite to mosh pitting but that isn´t high on the Stockholm crowds toplist.   

Handgranat

Handgranat was a new experience for me. And they set the pace for the night. It´s fast, it´s hard and it´s funny. The sound is good and the energy level is high. After a few bars the feeling of Sunday is long gone, now it´s all about survival. The singer have a deep throat voice that fit perfect with the rest of the band. The drummer gives a certain dynamic to the fast tunes that with a less skilled drummer should be suffering a bit.

Murdering Murders

Murdering Murders singer doesn’t have the same deep growling roar as handgranat´s voice handler. But he have a desperation from the inside that he pour on us as a bitter salt. It´s both funny and bitter in the same sentence. Between the songs there are monologs to set us in the right mood. And they show us how shitty the everyday life can be, how narrow minded and petty the Bougoise society can be. Early in the set they have gear trouble, that Ligisterna later will develop into an art form. So in the beginning of the set they sound not as heavy as Handgranat. But though the set they manage to get it right.

Ligisterna

Ligisterna starts off with a few disasters. First guitar trouble, then microphone troubles, microphone trouble. After the first song there was more guitar trouble. So they was a bit stressed by it and that affected the whole set. To make it worse for them, the crowd teased them that they play to slow, which the band answer with humor. -We will play ever slower soon, they reply. One of the strenght of Ligisterna is their bitter  humor. After two fast as hell bands it wasn´t an easy task to slow it down, to be more traditional punk. But here, Ligisterna should take the credit. Their songs are so good that they have no trouble to make an impact on both me and the crowd, especially on one skinhead that spontaneously moves to the music. The set doesn´t have the same amount of energy that I´ve been used to get from them, and I guess they them self think of it as a skitspelning (crappy gig). Ligisternas humor saves them together with their incredibly strong tunes. I mean, a band havn´t been tested until a disaster gig like this or in front of a hostile crowd is done, and I think they crawl out of it with a honor. In the end of SAAB I can´t help myself and I got a tear in the corner of my eye. That song is the pure essence of what is happening in the western world today.

Link

The Belgian band Link ends the venue and my nine gig weekend. And what a lession in professionalism that was. Listen and Learn! The sound was as close to perfect as you can get. The Growling roars that was the singing was the roar of hell. They were as heavy as the other bands together. And Yet, so musically and sonically sophisticated. This was the best gig of this week ends all nine gigs I´ve seen. The guys seems humble on the verge to annihilation. Don´t worry we are here to see you, I found myself thinking. Some of the audience have waited a long time to see them. I think I was blessed that I was there and the number of people that I think should be sad about missing this is quite a few. They really missed something.
I can´t help thinking that this band should be on a much larger stage. On an stadium I think it should be more fitting, in front of thousands of fans. The sound and songs gives me images of them at a big stage. If their intention was to drag me to hell to show what it is like? They really got me to like it.

OK, you read me whine about the “stand like statues” crowd culture of Stockholm. So this time I wind up some skins and punks for some mosh pitting in front. And I was great. I think Link deserved it.


Was it worth the 60Skr in attendance fee. Link in itself was worth the double so you can make up your own conclusion from it. Deaf and happy!