The Misfits / Goldblade / Devilish Presley / Guns On The Roof

As I arrived on time this evening I could already hear the first of four fast-paced punk sets, this one coming from Guns On The Roof. The Leeds lads, with an average age of 18, have supported Stiff Little Fingers and the UK Subs here before. Although they have the skill and stage presence of a bunch of punk upstarts their music lacks originality (a strange thing in punk I know, what with three chords to use!). Mind you the big names like them, so they should go far.

Now Devilish Presley; I don’t know what to make of these two. They are the Carter USM of horror rock, no drummer (sounds like they have a vendetta against them), just a woman called Jacquei Vixen screaming her head off, a well-spoken man trying too hard to be punk, and a drum machine. Self-described as “I saw the Bride of Frankenstein have sex with The Ramones, Marc Bolan and Joan Jett”, I think it’s just a lame attempt at rock and roll. They are totally unimpressed with a couple of pit-dwellers who throw a bit of beer at them, and spend the rest of the set between songs slagging them off. Get over it! It wouldn’t surprise me if it happened all the time!

Take a few lessons from Goldblade. They effortlessly look and act punk, with ex-Membranes frontman John Robb spending most of their short set (GOTR overplayed) on the barrier, at one point performing joke rituals on his ‘brothers and sisters’ down front, as Brother Pete points and ‘shoots’ his guitar at them (“Do you believe in Rock and Roll?”). The riotous sing-a-long ‘Psycho’ is always a good crowd pleaser, along with ‘AC-DC’. Their catchy songs with an in-your-face-shout-it-out style always go down well, and although they should headline their own gig, John says he prefers to play the penultimate set. So if you like energetic, catchy punk rock with religious tendencies, check em out supporting a bunch of punk legends near you.

As the theme to John Carpenter’s Halloween descends over the crowd away from a pitch-black stage, three figures take their places before the light bursts on to reveal three faces - The Misfits. Jerry Only and Dez have macabre face paint on (and, of course, the infamous Devilock toped off with the Devastator skull head bass), while Robo has opted for a plain face and a necklace of teeth. They start straight away with ‘Halloween’, and from then on its non-stop punk of the highest degree. Robo has taken his place back from Marky Ramone, though amicably, as Jerry and Dez are in the band Osaka Popstar with Marky and Japanese anime fan John Carfiero who are also touring America later this year.


The regrouping works well, and all three members look as fit as ever. These guys were playing songs before I was born, and with the 30th anniversary of The Misfits next year, they show no signs of slowing down (they are currently working on a faster, harsher album!). The constant pace, who knows how many songs (I lost count), including ‘Teenagers from Mars’, ‘Astro Zombies’, ‘Angel Fuck’, ‘Attitude’ (I’ve only got so many words here, so I’ll not list them all!), I am tired just watching them!

The crowd make-up nearest the stage changes from young whippersnappers to old school punks very quickly, as up until Goldblade it had been a pretty sober affair; not much dancing or many uncontrollable antics (quite disappointing!).

The band who influenced many of today’s top acts – Green Day, Metallica, Guns and Roses – with their unique horror rock could fight them and win any day. Here’s to another 30 years!

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.