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Review: Massive Wagons/Florence Black/Cam Cole, SWX
Cam Cole is billed as a ‘singer, songwriter, busker and new age traveller’, which hardly inspires you to cancel all plans and hotfoot it to SWX for 6pm. After all, you can find plenty of those plying their trade in the bearpit. But genial Mr. Cole turns out to be quite a pleasant surprise. Maybe he’s tweaked his repertoire to suit the audience, but he plays mostly rockin’ blues slide guitar with an improvised foot-operated drum kit and frequently processed vocals. He also seems to have retrieved one of Slash’s old top hats from a dumpster.
He describes himself as a one-man-band, but there are actually two fellas on stage. The other one appears to be on jigging about duties and occasionally bashes away at a single drum and cymbal. No sign of a dog on a rope, mind. Cole’s handwritten set list reveals that one of his songs is entitled Fuck You, Motherfucker, which is nice.
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It’s not the most musically accomplished performance we’ll ever see, but if you encountered him playing this stuff in a subway you’d be inclined to chuck him a few quid. And, of course, if he came up with a Seasick Steve-style bullshit backstory, maybe some gullible journalist could be persuaded to hail him as a great ‘outsider artist’.
Next up in this most unusual rock show is a speaker from Andy’s Man Club – a male suicide prevention charity that Massive Wagons are supporting on this tour. He keeps it brief, plugs the local group, and is warmly received.
Mercifully, there’s nothing ‘ . . . and the Machine’ about South Wales trio Florence Black, who hit the stage with a hearty “Let’s go, motherfuckers!” and proceed to pummel the audience relentlessly for half an hour with their powerful, catchy heavy rock. That’s the way to do it.
There’s nothing wildly original going on here, but all three of them contribute to the big gang vocals which form a major part of their appeal, the fine guitarist seems to aspire to be James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett simultaneously, and it’s impossible not to be swept along.
Little wonder they’ve already built up a substantial following. Of course, the Welsh rock trio bar was set impossibly high by the mighty Budgie, but don’t be surprised if this lot become as popular as their fellow countrymen Skindred.
When Massive Wagons started out as one of those ‘third on the bill at The Exchange’ acts, they all looked about 12 years old and it was hard to picture them turning into chart-bothering behemoths. But that’s what’s happened. Earth to Grace has just become the Lancastrians’ third successive album to make it into the official UK top 10, peaking at a career-best number four, which means they’re reaching the point where they can no longer be ignored by the mainstream and that line “They won’t play us on the radio” in Tokyo will no longer apply.
They’re certainly in a mood to celebrate tonight, bouncing onto the stage during the intro tape of Cheap Trick’s Hello There and launching into recent single Missing On TV. Frontman Barry Mills literally doesn’t stop moving for the next 90 minutes – skipping about the stage, headbanging furiously and, at one point, crowd-surfing in an inflatable boat – like a cut-price version of that Rammstein stunt.
Massive Wagons are essentially a Quo or Slade for an audience that’s too young to have seen either of those bands. Every foot-stomping song is a banger, with a huge singalong chorus. If they play something you don’t recognise, it’ll feel like an old favourite by the time they finish and put a big shit-eating grin on your face.
Naturally, most of this packed audience know everything and we all sing along to A.S.S.H.O.L.E. and Fuck the Haters from the splendidly titled Triggered! album. Generation Prime‘s reggae breakdown even incorporates a snippet of No Woman, No Cry.
Guitarists Adam Thistlethwaite and Stevie Holl are clearly having the time of their lives and even stoic bassist Adam Bouskill appears to be having fun up there. Alas, there’s no Back to the Stack this time, but they do play it on most tours. Bangin’ in Your Stereo amply fulfils the Big Rock Anthem requirement and they eventually leave us with House of Noise.
As the unlikely outro tape of YMCA plays, tireless Mills is still bouncing around and doing the silly disco dance. We’ll have what he’s on.
All pix by Mike Evans
Read more: Metal & Prog Picks: November 2024
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