On Saturday night we took another trip out to the Suburbs for some Psychobilly punk at the latest edition of Shake Some Acton.
We arrived just after Dead Hombres had started with the bands current expanded four-piece line-up and just in time for Nigel to hand over the lead vocals to Traci for The Only Way that had a deep twang to it, Rocking Horse Rolling Haze or whatever the next song is actually called had a nice nifty solo from the bands new boy. Crazy People was dedicated to everyone who had made it to Harrow On The Hill for the night.
Hombres was played like the bands theme tune with some spry guitar interplay between Nigel and the new guy whose name I don't know, sorry. Baby Moon Rider sounded really tight and has a great sing along chorus to it, before as usual they closed with Hellbound Ghost Train that saw all of the band apart from drummer leave the stage as he took to the helm of that Hellbound Ghost Train careening down the Metropolitan line out to the third circle of hell that is Amersham.
After a short break the first of the three bands I know little or nothing about Killer Tone Jones came on, with Mr Jones looking like he's just been dug up as they opened with Dark Evil a good psychotic punk blitz, Incinerate fried out minds with some vicious guitar, as they started signing about Knee High I couldn't quite envision any of this trio wearing Knee High socks.
Spiders spun a speedy web to ensnare anyone not already enamoured of the Killer Tone they unleashed on our ears. Roadkill was apparently how they described a first date with the object of there desire, she may have been a tasty date. They then played a cover of the Big Black classic The Model with the bass player trying to outdo Dave Riley's moody interpretation, the only thing they got wrong was having a live drummer, as the machines really work best to bring the Kraft out of it.
The Jones soon started to growl at us like a demented corpse that could only be sated with a pint or two of Formaldehyde the bands favourite tipple, they then got all topical with Bad Barbie as they are all obviously big fans of the recent film.
As they were running out of time, they flew through Reach Out Have Some Faith before getting everyone singing along to the set closing Swords Of A Thousand Men that really guaranteed they went down a storm.
Soon enough it was time for The Spacewasters current line-up to show just how much they want to rock our socks off, opening with the statement of intent that was Born To Die Old that had a cheeky grin to it as Lead Spacewaster Mick bellowed into his Valve Microphone. Sweet Love was played like they wanted it all over and done with in about 2 minutes flat.
Red Bet had a good few of the band's fans singing along with this high-octane rocker, Roll Over wasn't for the little one, but had a good edge to it as the twin guitars started to fry. The Devils Bones seem to have chased the band from there origins in Harrow all the way to Harrow On The Hill, if the bands Myspace page is to be believed that is.
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They then claimed that they were all Shadow Men like out of some comic book with proper Psychobilly guitar slinging going on, as they seemed to pick up the pace for that X-Ray Vibe that hopefully had no more bad news for any of the band members. They hinted at that bad news in a super speedy Down We Put Them, down in the ground they go.
Mick then told us that I Want Some Action and how could we argue with a band that are as much fun as The Spacewasters, they then got a touch romantic on what I guess from my notes was Find Me A Looker but was probably something totally different, before they closed with a blasting version of Real Boss Hoss that upped the sonic levels well into the red at the end of a great set.
That just left time for The Zipheads the only band on the night to have a Double Bass player in Will Bennett, they had come all the way from St Albans which explains why they opened with the Call Of The Wild as you would really hear that call coming from St Albans, giving us a good slice of Jack London infused psychobilly. The Real Wild kept the pace up as they rocked like hell, as they were soon Rocking To The Rhythm Of A Solid Beat that had the Trinity Bar eating out of the palm of their hands.
Ray Walters then insisted that we all join in on the next song, that they would sing in Italian! miraculously once we all learnt how to say Accendino! We did join in this Spaghetti western psycho classic.
They then went psycho ska as they Put The Pedal To The Metal an activity practically outlawed in London these days. It was then time to Hold Tight as they were getting even faster. Everybody Knows went down a treat before they told us about someone To Love.
Lonely Sound seemed to be led by the magnificent Double Bass sound. They were Too Proud that took aim at some of the more dunderheaded folks in this country and led straight into It's A Rampage and it certainly was.
They then did a jazz punk version of Neat Neat Neat that slowed the song down a good bit, as it slipped into a few bars of Papa Was A Rolling Stone in the middle. They then told us Don't Pretend and it was clear that was the last thing The Zipheads were doing, before they closed the night with a rollicking missive in the form of Revenge that spat bile at some poor sod who crossed the bands path it was a great end to another brilliant edition of Shake Some Acton as usual a good time is guaranteed.
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