THE BLOODSHAKE CHORUS & THE MEN THAT WON’T BE BLAMED FOR NOTHING
What a night.
Cripes-a-Lordy, I do NOT do Halloween and nor do I do covers bands. Yet, here I am, out celebrating Goth Christmas for the second night in a row, this time with covers band the Bloodshake Chorus. But more of them later…
Tonight is a double-header with both bands playing full length headline sets. First up, it is THE MEN THAT WILL NOT BE BLAMED FOR NOTHING. I am going to say this right from the start: TMTWNBBFN are neither a comedy band nor a novelty band. Yes, there is a degree of comedy, yes, there is a degree of novelty. Unlike most comedy bands TMTWNBFN’s humour does not wear thin after a listen or two. Unlike most novelty bands, the novelty does not hide a lack of songwriting talent and become annoying after five minutes. TMTWNBFN write fantastic songs. There is genuinely laugh aloud humour, which is unsurprising given that guitarist/vocalist Andrew O’Neill is a stand-up comic. His skits and in-song interplay with vocalist/musical saw (!?!) player Andy Heintz is, at times, the equal of anything that comedy legends Laurel and Hardy or Morecambe and Wise May have produced but the quality of the songs never suffer in the pursuit of laughs.
Like the Kinks (and, arguably, Blur) before them, TMTWNBFN take elements of music hall and rock them up. Unlike either, TMTWNBFN add death metal, grindcore, punk and anti-folk to the mix. The Gin Songis a glorious ode to mother’s ruin. The People’s Common Sense Medical Advisormay be the best song about the perceived perils of masturbation ever written. This House Is Not Hauntedis just a fantastic song. Covers of Chas & Dave’s That’s What I Likeand the Kinks Victoriashow just where TMTWNBFN are coming from. And then comes the highlight. No one has ever asked what a combination of cockney knees-up, Scandi death metal and punk pogo-a-long set in the Cthulhu mythos would sound like. Margate Fhtagnis the answer and it is GENIUS.
Anyone who likes their music (mostly) heavy and always entertaining but isn’t scared of a mash-up of seemingly disparate genres should check out TMTWNBBFN. Alternatively, there is Andrew O’Neill’s stand-up show at the Waterfront Studio on 13th December.
THE BLOODSHAKE CHORUS have been going for six years. I first saw them early on, haven’t seen them for at least three years and have never seen them in a venue as big and well set up as Epic. As mentioned earlier, I do not get most covers bands and I’d usually much rather see someone playing songs that I am unfamiliar with than bashing out standards. I will always make an exception for the Bloodshakes.
Whatever your feelings about covers bands - I have friends who loathe them and other friends who pretty much only see them - how can you not like a band whose man mountain of a singer describes himself as a morbidly obese man sweating his tits off? Okay, the sweating his tits off was down to a bout of manflu but, even so...
Like TMTWNBFN, there is a touch of what could be perceived as comedy and novelty about the Bloodshake Chorus. They are dressed as the zombie butchers of the apocalypse for crying out loud! But that is their usual stage attire, not just for Halloween. Is there any covers band that hasn’t done the likes of These Boots, Happy Together, Runaway, Sunny Afternoon, Love Potion No. 9 or House of the Rising Sun? A more important question would be whether any other band has played those songs with the passion and soul of the Bloodshakes. Frankly extraordinary versions of Bang Bang, Joleneand I Who Have Nothingwill make you will appreciate just why the Bloodshakes are more, so much more, than just a covers band.
Musically, they do nowt new and I would like an original or two in the set but Bloodshakes own this stage and they play with such conviction that I just have to applaud them. For me, TMTWNBFN were the band of the night but the Bloodshakes run them close. What a night.
