I normally make a point of seeing all the bands on the bill, but tonight I was essentially along because a mate of mine who likes his punky shit thought I might dig The Computers. Having had a listen to the advertised supports on their respective MySpace pages, he wasn't all that bothered about seeing them, and so, deferring to his opinion, we stayed in the pub for another one beforehand. What a hardship.
We arrived a little way into Blacklisters' set. They hadn't been advertised - had they been, we'd have been sure to arrive earlier. The first thing that strikes me is the volume. It's immense. The sound quality is also impressive, and it appears that in the newly-launched Stereo, York has its very own Brudenell Social Club (probably my favourite venue anywhere right now), and at last can boast a venue with decent sound - the PA to room size ratio is pitched very much in favour of the PA. And then some.
Blacklisters don't have a 'sound' as such - it's a racket, an all-out sonic assault, very much in the vein of The Jesus Lizard and the whole Touch & Go stable. Huge, lumbering riffs that jerk and lurch, cranked out at the pain threshold with the effect that the tumult partly buries the vocals that veer from a cracked slurring drawl to a manic, indecipherable scream, delivered by a punk dude who spends as much time in the audience as on the stage. They do a great line in punishing feedback and I dig. A lot.
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Deciding to give our bleeding ears a chance to recover, we reconvene to the bar and skip the next support. From what I can hear through the wall, I don't feel I'm missing out too badly.
The Computers launch into their punkabilly set at breakneck speed, It's cable carnage and front man - and his guitar and mic stand - ambulates the room, a flurry of energy and legs wide apart rock 'n' roll poses. Piston drumming propels the blues-edged punk mayhem, and pints of saliva are deposited onto the stage and floor as the band attack a relentlessly uptempo set-list (which lasts a very punk forty minutes, no encore). This is what gigs are all about. Close-up and personal, loud, raucous and FUN!, The Computers really do give it everything, and more. Brilliant.
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