Review: Slaughter and the Dogs, Fleece

Death or Glory Promotions have a commendable record for securing great bills – national touring bands (old guard and up & coming outfits alike) usually supplemented by local acts old & new, resulting in value for money bills with a great atmosphere. Tonight The Charred Hearts (née Corpses) opened the show and delivered a muscular grizzled near dozen tunes (and an unnecessary apology for coming from Swindon) that rattled the rafters. Terse, choppy riffs flirting with metal, robust bass and thundering drums for a sound that managed to have a contemporary feel laced with a classic attitude. Nowhere Town was full of piss & vinegar and Persecute Me was stuffed with venom but Always Beside Me – dedicated to a murdered friend of the band – managed to be a poignant ballad albeit a ballad on steroids. Ronald Regan was charmingly accurate in its chorus (“Ronnie you’re an asshole”) and the whole set elicited plenty of grins and applause.

First visual impression of The DeRellas suggested a band in thrall to their influences: whip-thin gum chewin’ lead guitar player with Iggy bowl cut circa ‘69; lead singer rocking sunglasses beneath a Vanian quiff in a fake leopard skin coat & winklepickers slinging a low slung six string; a drummer who looked like he’d previously been giving as good as he got in an episode of the Sweeney and a sneering bass player with a punk filtered Zal Cleminson vibe. To be honest there was the distinct possibility of style over substance but then they blew that theory out of the water when they cranked out an invigoratingly innovative set of meaty rock n rolls tunes packed with a ’77 sneer, weighty riffs and catchy choruses. The band have alchemised their influences into what can only be described as a pop-punk-metal party; aggro drum beats reminiscent of the tribal glam beat from the seventies laced with killer solos and plenty of heft. “Dressing up to get fucked up…” summed up the set, good time music to soundtrack desperate times delivered with wit and passion. Rock n Rollercoaster was irresistible; Strung Out Sin City brought Bon-era AC/DC to the party and Stick it to the Man was a rabble rousing finale. If you’re fed up with the on-off-on-off-on-off-on-off (continued page 94) career of the Wildhearts then this is the band you should be spending time with instead – either by purchasing the new 10” (green vinyl!) or in person at their next local show.

Slaughter and the Dogs took to the stage and somewhat disingenuously announced they were the Grumbleweeds, to the amusement of one half of the audience and the bemusement of the other half (it’s a demographic thang, although to be fair there were as many young ‘uns as there were garrulous old punks in a busy Fleece). If anyone doubted the identity of the band on stage those doubts were dispelled when the band hit us with an opening double whammy – new cut Trust (All I Want from You) and a berserk cover of Who are the Mystery Girls?, followed rapidly by The Bitch. This trio telegraphed the set – something new, something borrowed and something old or more succinctly great new tunes from the latest recording Viscious blended seamlessly with classic material from their first incarnation and a few judiciously selected covers.

Although they were spawned in the “This is a chord, this is another, this is a third. Now form a band” hothouse of the mid-seventies, the band were way more than three chord merchants and they demonstrated that emphatically with a superb set of killer tunes, easily the match of their more widely known and successful contemporaries. Wayne Barrett was on fine vocal form; strong vocals and plenty of movement, soon losing his flat cap as he jumped around the stage and hung from the pillars; whilst his partner in crime Mick Rossi stayed cool, calm and collected in his fedora but pumped out some frankly massive riffs and effortlessly peeled off liquid solos. Hell in New York was brutal and Maybe if We Followed the Devil suckered the crowd with an acoustic intro before slamming into more powerhouse riffs. I’m Waiting for the Man featured way back in time on their debut and tonight was dedicated to Lou, whilst Trash Talking Queen brought us bang up to date. Barrett and Rossi may well have been the focus of the show but their glam-punk racket (there always was a massive dollop of glam about the Dogs) was built on a solid foundation from Mark Reback (drums) and Dan Graziano (bass), new-ish boys maybe, but they made the tunes their own – old, new or borrowed.

Plenty of banter to and from the stage generated laughs but it’s always a mystery why bands make football references during their chat and you’d think a band from Manchester would know better than to try and raise some audience participation with a football comment in this town. Barrett, however, chose to do so during a random ramble about the type of blokes who go and watch football and the type of blokes who go to gigs – that was fine but then to observe that “You lot have got a shit football team” was asking for trouble. Fortunately partisan football rivalry was averted when came the exceedingly swift and pithy response “No, we’ve got two shit football teams” reducing the room to guffaws.

There was only one tune that could close the set and the band pumped out a venomous Where Have All the Boot Boys Gone with Barrett pumping up a terrace singalong as the crowd bounced along. The glam connection was reinforced with the first encore, a grinding swaggering cover of Bolan’s Get it On said tune eliciting yet another singalong. Cranked UP Really High was an almighty climax leaving the band and crowd spent. The revisionist / populist view of 1976 focuses on a few fashion police approved outfits and wilfully ignores many fine bands. Admittedly many of those bands crashed and burned like amphetamine fireworks, but there were some bloody good bands out there on the fringes and it’s great to see many of them back in the saddle. And it’s even better that they’re releasing new material and treading the boards again. Hopefully the Dogs will be back soon and on this form you won’t want to miss them and let’s hope they bring a second new LP to town as well.