Dead Kennedys & Piss Bath
Maybe a bit punk-rock cabaret for the purists but damned good fun nevertheless.
It’s a wild and wet night in Norwich and queuing to get into the Waterfront is not something I want to be doing. And yet here I am. Thankfully, given that the openers are Glasgow’s delightfully named PÏSS BÄTH I suppose I should grateful that it is only rain that has soaked me.
No relation to US hardcore band Pissbath, this Pïss Bäth owe more than a little to Motörhead. Unsurprising, given the umlauts, but (thankfully) there are no similarities to Mötley Crüe…. There is also a bit of early 80s street punk/oi in there too, along with Bay Area thrash, UK hardcore and NWOBHM. Apart from some awkward gaps between songs, it is all good, if wholly unoriginal, knuckleheaded fun. These boys can write a tune and the likes of opener Street Valium deserve a listen.
I never got to see DEAD KENNEDYS’ “classic” line up with Jello Biafra and the late, great DH Peligro. All I can compare tonight’s line-up - East Bay Ray on guitar, bassist Klaus Fluoride bass, DK’s longest serving vocalist Ron "Skip" Greer and a drummer who may be called Sontay - is some old clips on YouTube.
Reportedly Skip was recruited because he wasn’t a Jello clone. I dunno, the vocals aren’t dissimilar, nor are some of the theatrics. Whatever, Skip is an engaging, entertaining frontman, described by a fellow punter as a “likeable prick”. Take that how you will. Fluoride and Ray still have the chops but seem to take a while to get into things, barely moving for at least the first half of the of the thirteen song main set. Sontay - if that is his name - is a powerhouse drummer and nails the Peligro licks and tricks.
The set is made up of classic SK material. I mean, can a punk band go wrong with songs like Forward to Death, Police Truck or Buzzbomb. A mighty Let's Lynch the Landlord is as relevant now as it ever was, if not more so. Skip winds up the audience with references to the coronation, soccer and “real” football before Jock-O-Rama and there’s more mocking of the monarchy before a storming Kill the Poor complete with audience shoutalong.
MP3 Get Off The Web - a rewrite of MTV Get Off The Air - has proved controversial in the past but goes down well here. Too Drunk to Fuck sees Skip throwing water over the audience, perhaps unnecessarily given the soaking most of us got waiting to get in. A skit about an 80s/90s dance night proceeds an almost power pop take on Moon Over Marin. It has to be said that Nazi Punks Fuck Off is decent but not a patch on the original by Napalm Death*. Closing the main set, California Über Alles is a genuine goosebumps moment.
Bleed for Me opens the first encore with a deliciously filthy bass sound and sees Skio quoting Taylor Swift. Viva Las Vegas is as hilariously deranged as ever. If California… raised goosebumps then hearings be seeing Fluoride and Ray play the iconic Holiday in Cambodia is a genuine hairs-standing-up-on-the-back-of-the-neck moment. Finally, for the second encore, DK finish things with Chemical Warfare and another hilarious interlude with a burst of Sweet Home Alabama.
All in all, this was a good show with some great moments. At times it was a little Muppets-band-does-a-Dead-Kennedys-punk-rock-cabaret show and I suspect some purists would not have been happy with it. As for me? Well, I was thoroughly entertained and, whoever else is in the band, felt honoured to see East Bay Ray and Klaus Fluoride play some stone-cold classics.
