LOUD HORIZON MUSIC
GUNS ON THE ROOF @ Rockers, Glasgow – 26th September 2008
By Colin Jackson
Leeds punks, GUNS ON THE ROOF, have been frequent visitors to Glasgow over the years, but with a new album about to hit the shops in a little over a week and stellar support being provided by THE HYPERJAX, then this was sure to be an evening to remember.
Friday night in Glasgow and Midland Street, situated below the main rail route in and out of Central Station, bears witness to a diverse parade of Clubbers (heading for the nearby Arches night-spot) mixing freely with Punks and Psychobillies congregating outside the Rockers venue. It’s only eight-thirty in the evening and those who have come to see THE HYPERJAX and GUNS ON THE ROOF are in for a long wait, as the under card of four local bands have only just started up.
It is in fact around eleven-fifteen at night when THE HYPERJAX appear on stage. It must be around three years since I last saw them, supporting Tiger Army at King Tuts, and I remember coming away raving about them as much as the headliners. To have a band as good as, and the stature of THE HYPERJAX on the support card is a real bonus, and despite the fact that their set only started after many people’s last bus / train had left the city centre, the promoters should be commended.
As expected, they play thirty minutes (plus encore) of classic Rockabilly / Psychobilly, the highlight being the brilliant, ‘Talkin’ New York City.’ Guitarist Sam Woods has the look of an ‘ironed-out,’ Keith Richards and repeatedly cajoles the diehard psychobilly fans down the front to throw themselves around a bit. Not that they need much encouragement! Liam slaps furiously on the luminous-coloured strings of his double bass, constantly pouting and posing in the manner that only rockabillies can get away with. With ‘The Wolf,’ on drums and dictating the tempo it looks like GOTR are really going to have be on their game tonight just to ensure they are not upstaged.
And so, at shortly after midnight the big screen is raised (which rather bizarrely has been showing the film ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest,’ to the backdrop soundtrack of Stray Cats and The Dead Kennedys) and the dry ice machine goes into meltdown as it blasts out clouds of thick ‘smoke.’ From somewhere amongst the smog the cry goes up, “We are GUNS ON THE ROOF – this is ‘Last Night,’ “ and they’re off! Marc’s bass throbs with the opening bars as Danny’s guitar introduces the opening riffs of ‘Last Night,’ before Joe fires off a couple of brief rounds on his snare. Bretty balances between the stage and the crowd barrier as he rasps into the vocals of the third track on the new album. Behind him, Marc and Danny are already in manic mode as they run around the small stage, finding spaces that seemingly weren’t there a few moments earlier in which to throw their guitars around.
‘Hangman,’ follows. Taken from their debut album ‘Pure Punk Rock Therapy,’ this is an old crowd favourite, and only succeeds in slowing down Marc and Danny’s antics by virtue of their frequent need to provide backing vocals.
‘Last Orders,’ – which has recently featured on MTV’s ‘The Riot,’ programme was next. Again, this features big raucous vocals from Bretty who paces aggressively and menacingly around the stage with the guitar lads providing backing and harmonies. (It may surprise some to hear just how GOTR can effortlessly produce aggressive punk music that is in no way diluted by the harmony, whilst also still retaining a hard edge to their performance.)
‘Derailed,’ and ‘Michael Myers,’ are reeled off in quick succession before ‘Going All The Way.’ Again, older songs not featured on their new album (‘New Frustration,’) that have a bit more of an ‘American punk,’ sound to them, for want of a better description. Of course, there are big, hooky, shout-a-long choruses for the crowd to get into, and by now they are doing just that! It’s all getting a bit hot and sweaty in Rockers tonight!
A punk version of the Johnny Cash song, ‘Ring of Fire,’ is new to me, but it’s a bloody clever idea and a superb adaptation. Then at last we have a couple songs to showcase the new album – ‘Road Of Our Lives,’ and ‘So Tired.’ The former is a surprising choice; not being one that I would say best represents the true quality of the new recording. Still – what do I know?! However, ‘So Tired,’ is fast and frantic and Bretty affords Marc and Danny more space in which to continue their physical assaults on their instruments as they career around the stage, by himself jumping down into the crowd and belting out the song from within the audience. By now, drummer Joe is quite obviously knackered! It goes without saying that drumming n a punk band requires an especially high level of fitness and staying power. Playing with a band whose approach to their music is as furious as GOTR requires that level lifted another notch, and just like a champion athlete, a ‘no pain, no gain,’ attitude is required. Joe, it seemed, was certainly feeling that pain as by now his sweat-soaked face was contorted with each frantic thrash of his kit!
The set then finishes with the only political reference of the night as the final song, ‘Stupid Cunt,’ is dedicated to a Mr Gordon Brown. Of course, this was never going to be the actual final song as the usual encore was demanded and the band duly obliged with ‘Dying,’ another lifted from ‘New Frustration.’ It’s a great way to finish the set – hard but melodic punk played out by a band that did not put a discernible foot wrong the whole evening, despite their energetic stage presence. And in Bretty’s case it is just as well he is sure-footed as he jumps from the stage onto the bar-counter, picking his way carefully through the pints of beer as he sings the final song. (You really shouldn’t even risk the chance of spilling a Glaswegian’s pint, Bretty!!)
This was the third time I had seen GUNS ON THE ROOF, the last time being almost two years ago. Impressive as they were then, these four young lads – average age only twenty – have come a long way since and despite the omission of the two strongest tracks on ‘New Frustration,’ this certainly ranks as one of the top five ‘gigs of the year,’ in my humble little opinion. But don’t just take my word for it.........!
