Yes you are reading this right. I did go and see Tigertailz as I was asked to go and review the main support on Tigertailz current UK tour, Last Great Dreamers.
We arived absurdly early at about 7pm and of course first band on Spyder Byte were already onstage playing as late night London really exists!! Spyder Byte are a two guitars, bass and drums Heavy Rock band with a singer who's a bit of a full throated, pint-sized powerhouse screaming"hey!" repeatedly. His less-than subtle technique worked, though, as quite a few of the crowd punching the air with him and the guitars were working well together to get the place going.
They seemed to up the Whitesnake meets Gillan but wants to be Rainbow, oh sorry Guns and Roses on a song about being In Your Face. Then as they sung about a Moonshine Woman they really had the place going with some good but not too long solos and a pretty tight sound.
They closed their set with Love Bomb Ticking, which seemed to be their best known song. Half the audience knew the words and by the time left the stage the place was applauding boisterously enough to give them an encore if there had been time for that. As old school sleazy Brit rock bands go, Spyder Byte are pretty good.
Next on and standing out like 4 sore thumbs on this bill were Last Great Dreamers who are touring to promote current single Glitterball Apocalypse. It was released on the day of this gig. They opened with Crash Landing, a decent slice of Junk shop powerpop glam that was decent and punchy but felt a little bit weak after Spyder Byte.
No 1 Wonderboy was next and it featured some very cool lyrics being sung over the nicely intertwining guitars and poppy delivery. The singer was starting to remind me of Andy Serkis playing Ian Dury. Far From Home had a nice insistent bass riff weaving through it as the guitars kept things interesting even if they seemed to lack a bit of excitement and some of the crowd started to drift away to the back bar.
I think Lunacy lady was next, but either way they were singing about how much they wanna girl in a style that reminded me of one of Woody Woodmansey's U-Boats more rocking songs. I have the next song down as Only Crime. Not sure if that's correct, but it included some pretty cool lyrics to keep things interesting even when musically they were a touch repetitive.
Next up was White Light which isn't the Mick Ronson song of that name or any other White Light that I know of. It is a popular song name after all. It was one of the band's better songs and sounded pretty cool, though. Super Nature Natural is as much of a tongue twister as the name suggests and it also wraps itself around a good tune.
Glitterball Apocalypse sounded great live; a real high spot as it's good and catchy. The b-side Collide was up next and also sounded really good with its convoluted lyrics. Both songs really stood out. The band then played their theme song that has apparently been on both of their previous albums and may well be on the next one too. Well why not as Last Great Dreamers is a pretty great song with a detectable Mott the Hoople influence.
They closed with the cool and sleazy Dope School, which sounded perfect for being propped up against a wall off your trolley too. However, it still left me feeling they needed to be on a different bill to this one.
Then it was time for Tigertailz: a band who have spent nearly 30 years convincing themselves that Cardiff really is the Los Angeles of Wales and that Hairspray metal is really every bit as Welsh as Rugby and leeks. I'm obviously guessing where these song titles are concerned having always treated this band as a joke, though previously I never knowingly heard them.
They come on to samples of their own songs before launching into Sick Sex where the singer stalks the stage with his big hair shaking. Is it a wig or is it real? Not sure, but either way they sound way better than I expected. Wow.
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I have the next song down as Undercover Lover and it kept the pace up. The guitarist was really making the most of his custom Ibanez as they sounded like the bastard offspring of Hanoi Rocks and Motley Poo (ahem) with just a touch of Skid Row in the mix. Soon they were singing about Some Attraction and most of the crowd were singing along and considering how many gigaholics were in that crowd it seems they have a bit of a loyal following still.
Yes they stick to the main subjects of sex and drugs and rock and roll on songs about All The Girls In The World as there was plenty of running around on stage between the bass player and guitarist swapping places and the singer going all over the place as they work every bit of the crowd. It's fun to watch and, dam, they know how to work their fans. As soon as they give a hint that the next song has a "Sha la la la" intro to it, the place goes nuts for what must be one of the band's better known songs and as they touch almost every hair metal cliche in the book even songs I've never heard before sound familiar.
I Can Fight Dirty Too was introduced as being off the Bezerk album which was the band's classic album. It went down a storm and was a pretty good song too. It was followed by another song from that album that I guess is called Noise Level Ultra and soon everyone was singing along to it too.
She's Too Hot To Handle had the cliche level raised by several levels but, damn, do they work those cliches well. They then get to insist it's time to out-cliche themselves and we should all get out lighters out to pay tribute to the one fallen Tigertailz member Pepsi on Heaven. For some of the crowd is a real tearjerker of a monumental rock ballad.
Don't Bite the Hand that Feeds You had about as much venom as they can muster and still they all have grins on their faces while playing it. On my Own seemed like another straight ahead rocker and went down well because of it. They closed the set with Call Of The Wild which isn't a re-working of the Jack London book into song form but is about the sex and drugs and rock and roll lifestyle that Tiger Bay is notorious for.
They came back for a well-deserved encore that opened with Shoot To Kill and, no, not THAT Shoot To Kill but still everyone else seemed to know it and they did some introductions to go with it. That was followed by (I think) Star Attraction which seemed to be about a pity party. A bit of a sad song for an encore to be honest. They finished with their big hit and the one song of the set I could sing along to even if I never knew it was their song. Yes, Lovebomb Baby sounded every bit the Cheese metal classic it's become and was a great end to what for me was a surprisingly good set. I'd have to say if you get the chance to go and see Tigertailz on their current tour they are in remarkably good form.
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