It was a great pleasure to be back at Some Weird Sin for a night that's best described as featuring three buzz bands on one fantastic bill. While all three bands maybe a bit old to be buzz bands, looking at the crowd that's shown up for this gig, that features a good assortment of hard core gigaholics, musicians, music bizz insiders and it feels like one of the buzziest gigs I've been to in ages, to see three bands who have all been on my to see list for a while. In case you're wondering this review will feature loads of guess work on the song titles, apologies for all inaccuracies or made-up nonsense, it's a proper old school live review.
First on are Continental Lovers who are a three-piece fronted by Joe Maddox who used to be the singer in The Derellas, but who appears far happier in Continental Lovers as they begin Masquerading in front of us and pulling some great poses while doing so in a great glam punk way.
The bands' theme tune Continental Lovers is next and it was good and bouncy even if it did have a rather messy ending that sounded like Debbie Dee and Joe hadn't quite got the ending right just yet. Take That wasn't about the boy band as far as I could tell but had a good spiky glam edge to it and plenty of passion in the vocals.
Going To Be OK almost feels like a dangerous statement to make these days as things go from bad to weird and worse, but a little bit of optimism is no bad thing as we all want a brighter future, as this lot really should have a bright future.
They then pay tribute to one of the patron saints of Glam Punk St Joan of Jett on a song that certainly doesn't have a black heart and was a fitting tribute to one of my long-time heroines as I'll never forget winning a copy of the Runaways debut album in a radio 1 contest back in 1975 as a 10 year old kid. Long may St Joan reign.
The bands recent single Really Doesn't Matter was next and flew by in a blur of slinky guitar and super speedy drumming from the Rokket. Then they were Having Conversations With The Girl as they tried to convince her that they would indeed make her mine through a combination of Gibson guitar licks and the odd pleading lyric, how could she resist.
I think it was I'm Alone Tonight that Joe introduced as a new song, well they were all new to me, but it still sounded cool and like something I need to hear a good few times. The obsessive chase kept going on Can't Get You Outta My Head and if she ever hears this well, she may relent and give in to all the fine talk and speedy guitar and just fall into his arms.
They closed with what could well be a huge emotional ballad or rallying cry as they insist I Wanna Save The World that is currently far easier sung than done, but well the world would be a better place if we all just listened to Continental Lovers rather than foolish politicians.
I'd wanted to see Richard Davies & The Dissidents since reviewing Human Traffic the band's debut album that came out in June 2020 as the band features Tim Emery from Last Great Dreamers on bass as well as various Snakes and of course Richard used to be in Tiny Monroe who were anything but Tiny live.
They opened with what I guess was This Is The Age but is probably actually Human Traffic that had some wonderfully downbeat vocals with spectral guitar from Nick Beere that the keyboards weaved in and out of with aplomb.
21st Century Man sounded more strident than it does on the album and they really sounded and looked like a band that needed to be on a far larger stage than the one at The Finsbury. In the midst of the horrible Ukrainian war hearing a song about a Soldier Of Fortune had some added poignancy, even if he wasn't singing about a mercenary and the fact it went almost straight into No Man's Land added to the vibe of them depicting the worst of humanity while sounding effortlessly upbeat and landing one spot on guitar solo after another.
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New song Suburbia sounds like they haven't totally worked out the lyrics yet, as it was mainly the title repeated over and over as the keyboards and guitars tried to sound even more suburban than Manor House is.
Born To Drown saw Richard's guitar meshing nicely with Nicks as this downbeat tale unfolded at a fiery pace. Way Of The World doesn't shy away from just how screwed up a world we sometimes live in is, where we all seek a little rock and roll redemption to keep us sane.
Heartbeat Smile was every bit as catchy as it is on the album, that just left them with time for a super punky cover of The Byrds timeless classic Lover Of The Bayou that was properly amped up and stripped of it's original country tinge, it was a great way to end a cool set and damn I wish I'd seen them before this.
After a short break it was time for The Speedways who are the latest band to feature guitar hero Mauro Venegas from Johnny Cola & The A-Grades, The Godfathers etc and they opened there speedy power pop glam punk set with Dead From The Heart Down that had Matt Julian's impassioned vocals really getting to the heart of the matter.
Brown Eyes Blue thankfully isn't indebted to Crystal Gayle and was a great bouncy heartbreaker with some good spiky guitar. In Common With You kept up the frantic pace as they all kept throwing some great glam punk poses while playing never standing still.
Shoulda Known is full of regret that they well known better than to believe what they'd been told. This rampaged past us in a hail of guitars and Adrian Alfonso's super solid Bass. They live up to the bands name as the songs fly past almost in a blur Day I call You Mine and Good Girls Don't feel like one big adrenal rush.
I really hope that Kisses Are History is a lie as well we all need plenty of Kisses and Song Called Jayne was a highlight of me, it sounded way cool and was played with a wink or two in the bands eyes. Some boys have apparently Seen Better Days and might be down on there luck, but this bunch of boys deserve just the opposite.
With a bit of luck they will share some Secret Secrets with you so you too can hold a pose as well as they do while playing. Tonight you'll Find Love sounds like the sort of tune Some Weird Sin specializes in and the crowd were lapping it up as they rightly should.
Was the next song Number 7 or just called Bye Bye either way it was a magnificent kiss off that just left them time to close the live part of the evening with World Without Love that I really hope it isn't and that we can all get back to loving each other. Either way this was a good closer to a great triple header of a show and three bands who ought to be out on the road for a good long tour together. The Speedways however are now getting ready to go on the bands first Swedish tour I hope they have as much of a blast as the audience did at this gig.
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