After hosting Dot To Dot last week, The Angel welcomes Fuzzbox, I’m Not From London’s night of scuzzy sounds and filthy riffs. How could we refuse?
Kicking things off is Richard Kelsey, usually of local band Catbone but appearing on his own tonight with an electric guitar and a stomp box providing DIY percussion. Sound wise, it’s blues rock - Jack White meets Seasick Steve with passionate, strangled vocals. The best songs are little vignettes of Nottingham life - if Ray Davies had been a blues man from Hoodtown.
Next up are Thee Dagger Debs, bringing some pre-release copies of their debut album. There’s a lot of pressure on any garage band that includes the word “Thee” in their name - the word recalling Billy Childish and the great Thee Headcoats, quite a legacy to live up to. Fortunately, they do live up it - As Long As I’m Moving is a great twist-dance song while School Days sounds like the MC5. There are bits that are a bit more ‘70s, kind of Suzi Quattro meets the Bay City Rollers (in a good way). It goes down well - there is a guy in a mac and a hat that gives every song a standing ovation. The only two downsides are the fact that they have a go at mushy peas, our regional dish, and they forget the name of the headline act, calling them The Trouser Snakes Of Death Metal.
To be fair, it’s close but it’s actually The White Skull Death Snakes Of Death. It’s four guys who are old enough to know better and who sound like Mark E Smith fronting a heavy rock band - major riffage with angular lyrics on top while the rhythm section try to hold the whole thing together. It’s unique, totally unlike anything that I’ve seen before. Frontman Ant Thomas dances like a far younger man, although still a cross between Bez and your dad at a wedding. It’s only at the end of their set that they devolve into full blown heavy rock, screaming and all.
And that brings to an end another Fuzzbox night that has been bloody good fun!
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