MDC @ The Owl Sanctuary
It’s always a special gig that turns a Sunday night into the best night of the week.
Another night of brilliant music at Norwich’s best venue – it’s almost getting boring saying that isn’t it? I was looking forward to the gig but in all honesty wasn’t expecting anything truly amazing as MDC’s career is not exactly littered with classic albums and I knew nothing about the two supports.
First up were Bono, a local hardcore band. Their name is supposed to be a joke – I saw Bono at the Owl Sanctuary last night...ha ha…except the joke isn’t very funny and they’re far too good to be saddled with a joke name. Change it. Initially seemingly punk by numbers, they actually made it sound fresh with some prominent bass, really interesting guitar work, a loon drummer and a fully committed SHOUTY frontman. A really great set. Next were Noise Complaint, an American/Italian/Welsh four piece based in London. The balaclava sporting singer (which reminded me of The Mentors) was a brilliant frontman, both funny and slightly abusive, and they also had a great rhythm section with a truly awesome drummer. They even had some props - a pig’s head on a pole (not real) and a baby on a string (also not real) and whilst this sounds a bit lame on paper it actually made them stand out from the pack. The music was short sharp blasts of punk/thrash crossover with songs like Fuck CCTV & Religious Fuck. Subtle it wasn’t, brilliant it was, and they completely won over the crowd. A real revelation; I thought they were utterly convincing.
MDC. Millions Of Dead Cops. Multi-Death Corporation. Millions Of Damn Christians. Call them whatever you want, the names are inflammatory, the music is hardcore punk (again) and like some of the bands who’ve appeared at the Owl (Agnostic Front, D.R.I.) they can claim to be legendary leaders of the scene from the very early 80’s. Lead singer Dave Dictor came on like a cross between Iggy Pop and Alice Cooper, looking very much like the gnarly former addict he is. Dave was enjoying telling us about his 18 years of sobriety, but also informing us that he’d had some Valium before coming on stage – punk rock! Whether true or not, he kept us updated as to how he was feeling as the set progressed. What a set it was – over 30 songs in an hour, the place was rammed, pretty much every song off the debut was played and although I thought they would have to be good to better Noise Complaint, they actually managed it with ease, due to their headline status. Dave has still got it; his voice was a punk rock growl and his between song raps were funny, slightly rambling and generally bang on the money. Highlight of the set of course was John Wayne Was A Nazi, and even Dave’s closing a cappella rendition of Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay had a weird sincerity to it.
So, yet again, the Owl puts on a bill that no other venue in Norwich would, and yet again I’m utterly blown away. It’s always a special gig that turns a Sunday night into the best night of the week and that’s precisely what MDC did, even if the Monday morning bangover hit pretty hard.
@StuPres
