Review:'Cerebral Ballzy' 'A Nation of Shopkeepers, Leeds, 4th August 2010'
- Genre: 'Punk/New Wave'
Our Rating:
Well A Nation of Shopkeepers impressed me immediately on arrival: they serve good beer (Leeds Pale & Best and Black Sheep) for under three quid a pint (not bad considering the price of beer these days, especially in music venues). The fact said beer is served in handled dimple glasses felt a bit incongruous as I stood watching a punk band create chaos with an 'Emmerdale' pint pot in my hand, but I'm not complaining.
I got to sink a few pints while the supports played. I didn't rate Eagulls at all. Too indie to be punk, too punk to be indie, they sounded like The Wedding Present crossed with Green Day only with less tuneful vocals and their set went on for far too long.
Cold Ones were ok, but nothing more. They displayed energy and curious dress sense (the singer's cream knitted woollen gloves were truly baffling) but just lacked that killer bite. Still, they were entertaining enough, and the room started to fill out nicely during their set.
Cerebral Ballzy were amazing. From the moment they launched into 'Puke Song' at 300mph, Honour was off the stage, spraying the crowd with Red Stripe and creating mayhem. Within minutes, the floor is awash with beer and littered with mics and mic stands as the twin guitar assault races through the set of two minute thrash-punk numbers at breakneck speed. Disaffected, dumb and drunken, this is exactly what punk is all about.
Small wonder that Cerebral Ballzy are getting noticed right now. It doesn't matter that their musical touchstones are glaringly obvious or that the songs are wilfully puerile. In fact, that's the whole point: Cerebral Ballzy are all about fun, while simultaneously raising a middle finger to... well, everything and everyone. Stroppy and confrontational, they go back to the roots of youth rebellion and are as much a kick up the arse for cozy commercial punk-pop as they are an antidote to radio-friendly pop, limp-wristed indie and ponderous, carefully arranged post-rock.
They declare the set over, but relent to calls for an encore with a further two songs. It's still all over inside twenty-eight minutes. I leave feeling energised and like I've witnessed a real event. Proper punk shit. Hell yeah!
