It's been well over a decade since I last went to see Spectrum play. I have seen Sonic boom as a guest a few times in-between but it's been a while. But I'd been hearing good things about the new line-up of Spectrum that contains Will B. Carruthers thus making this version Spacemen 2 sort of. Now I saw Spacemen 3 loads so I had to go over to The Hipsterville central that Dalston is fast becoming. I only wish Dad had lived long enough for it to be cool to go to gigs in Shacklewell Lane that weren't involving Barrington Levi and his friends.
Still the Shacklewell Arms turns out to be a proper Rock & Roll back of a pub dive with wonderfully slow motion bar staff: exactly the sort of place to see SPECTRUM. Having run into all of Sebastian Melmoth outside and had a good chat about some of the Sonic Boom records I forgot I owned (Yes I do have the Angel 12") I was in the right mood.
I went in and fought to get a beer before going to the already packed and sweltering back room where HOOKWORMS were already on. I was hit by a wall of droning drug rock and this guy screaming "Why Didn't You Say" over and over along with all the things that go with the argument he seemed to be having as his Farfisa organ pulsated with waves of drones. It sounded like Hookworms were a good choice of support.
The next song they did was something along the lines of Too Cruel To Confess. That was drenched in Farfisa and feedback Loop meets Spitfire but not as good as either of those bands. Soon enough, Off The line was veering all over the place and I had finally located where the guitarist was sitting or crouched to the left of the stage, invisible but very much a part of the sound that had enveloped the room. Damn the mix was great, too, and for an opening act they were good with plenty of potential but at times they seemed almost too by the numbers like they needed to find an identity of their own. I'd like to see them again in about 18 months once they have played enough to find themselves a bit more.
After the break (spent hanging in the alley trying to cool down a bit) and fighting to get served at the bar, it was time to drip with sweat like I was having a malaria attack in the sauna of a back room where SPECTRUM were busy setting up.
They opened with The Lonesome Death of Johnny Ace and sounded as much like early Spectrum or Spacemen 3 as you could wish for. Sonic somehow still looks almost the same as he ever did and Will B. Carruthers now just has the look of a guy who has been there and is glad to be with us. Damn, they have taken flight and when Sonic does his first Theremin solo while still playing his Korg it's sublime.
Then as Sonic started to sing It's Alright with the waves of sound crashing around me I'm off and so are the band. This is sounding great but the biggest treat of the evening for me is the sprawling epic of Ode To Street Hassle which I remember hearing for the first time when I saw Spacemen 3 support Suicide and was instantly turned into an S3 fan. The version tonight coming in the same week that I saw Lou Reed play a brilliant version of Street Hassle is just about perfect - the building of the music as the tale of drugged misadventure unfolds works totally as the devastation of the O.D. sets in and the realisation that it is just BAD LUCK that separates the living from the dead in a tale like this.
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Next up is a brilliant and chilling version of Suicide's Che that has waves of sound washing over us as Sonic weaves his magic on his Korg and the other gadgets and that Theremin. He then straps on his guitar for How you Satisfy Me: a song that can be taken as either an ode to a lover or to a drug or to both and is rousing and building towards a climax. That climax serves as the launch pad for a great version of the old Spacemen 3 classic Revolution: a song that seems to get more relevant with every passing year. It once heralded the moment that most of the audience would have been smoking and inhaling deeply in hope of a Revolution that would allow them to get stoned legally. Now no one smokes anything indoors at all. What went wrong? We should all hear this song at full volume and start thinking of how to start that revolution.
In the meantime Spectrum close the show with Ecstasy Symphony (or a reworking of it) and they go on the full-on space voyage to the land of droning ecstasy as Sonic plays his Korg, the Theremin and his gadgets while the rest of the band lay down a rock solid pulsating launch pad to the outer passages of space. Then it got to the time to set the controls to expire and for Sonic to walk away to the sounds of the cheers under the sonic barrage on stage before slowly Will leaves his bass to feed back and also walks, leaving the guitarist and drummer to bring the ship into land, pulling us back down in a mess of droning feedback with pulsating rhythms.
Then they left us with the instruments expiring loudly as we cheered for an encore. They came back with the instruments still playing to pick everything back up and finish the song as the encore this time with Sonic staying down low and playing the pedals or gadgets on the floor with one hand and the Korg with the other and then using his arm to play the Theremin. It was a shattering conclusion to a great set that left everyone dripping with sweat and in fact my clothes were in need of wringing out. But, damn, Spectrum are in great form and I look forward to hearing the new album 'On The Wings Of Mercury' whenever it gets completed and released. Hint Hint.
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