FLUFFER PIT PARTIES PRESENTS
THE BLACK LIPS/ FUTURE OF THE LEFT/ WARMDUSCHER
The Coronet, London 24/11/17
Its Friday night and we dont live in London so by the
time we reach The Coronet, myself and the plus one are too late to
see Madonnatron and are missing most of Warmduschers set too.
Someone from our hometown appears unexpectedly and tells us that people
are selling chocolate in the toilets. This fact alone beggars belief
that this venue is apparently closing at the end of the year, along
with the fact that the atmosphere is from a superb bygone era; all
dingy sweat and people throwing themselves around without fear of
being tasered by security or tutted at by some middle-class hipster.
That said, the place is crawling with said hipsters as I assume would
be customary for a Fluffer party, all eager to say they were there
for this grand finale as another bit of Londons musical history
bites the dust. Theres also an actor from This Is England
in the crowd, wearing a cravat. Excellent stuff.
And Warmduscher are, as their name suggests, getting things a bit
warm and wet; frontman Clams Baker Jr in full hellcat mode leading
his group of shambolic shaman in the chant of The Sweet Smell
of Florida, to name one highlight that we actually saw. All
I can say is that this group of misfits make some pretty cool rock
and roll. Rhythmic, hypnotic, chaotic, Warmduscher are on par with
cult bands like Meatraffle and the ambience reeks of the early noughties
when Errol Alkan spun discs on Tottenham Court Road while me and some
bleach blonde American dude thought we ruled the world. Not much has
changed in that respect. Im sure that most of the audience,
who wouldnt remember these times, are recreating the same traditions.
Which is pretty cool.
Future Of The Left are the remnants of Welsh band, McClusky, so proven
when they play To Hell With Good Intentions, which was
one of my favourite songs about a decade ago. Once lumped in with
the post-hardcore scene, they maintain the shouty vocals
and buzzcut combo, heavy basslines and massive riffage of their former
incarnation but the sound is so terrible that we pop outside for some
of their set. Sacrilege surely. I know. Shame on us. Youll have
heard of them anyway. I make a promise to see them again when the
speakers arent pointing at the floor.
And finally. Atlantas Black Lips have been around for bloody
ages but I only recently heard them on Steve Lamacqs show on
Radio 6. Im not ashamed of that fact. After all, it did bring
me here tonight to embrace the mullets/massive afros, moustaches and
general lunacy of a band that could just as easily have stepped out
of a John Waters film. And Fluffer want to re-create a high school
prom gone bad tonight as they hand out toilet rolls in the crowd to
chuck about. Someone makes the mistake of giving me one and I end
up lobbing it at someones head instead of making a perfect streamer
effect as everyone else seems to be so adept at doing. Its harder
than it looks, OK? Still, its not long before the stage in the
middle is carpeted in the stuff. Two paper mache heads appear in the
crowd and are quickly removed from their respective bodies and chucked
towards the band, who are clearly ecstatic with the response they
are getting. No-one seems to care that the sound is equally as shit
because theyre off their tits on the sweet elixir of thrashy,
fuzzy garage rock, which you can google if you want a full synopsis
because I couldnt really hear it. Still, I feel quite nostalgic
watching, quite sad even, but equally inspired that here is a show
put on by a little indie label to scream from its gut that the true
spirit of live music remains enough to crack the face of even the
biggest indie poser. And whats more it has so far survived the
gentrification of all that is good and holy, which is incredibly exciting
to be a part of. May it reign long after this old building has been
torn to the ground.
Thank you to Fluffer for putting on an awesome show and to Josh from
9PR for getting us in. Youse a star.
Words and pix - Anna C