On the spot report and photos by TRH Lenny Helsing.
Lord Rochester pic by @missrockinrolla
I was thrilled to be attending this
year's Funtastic as The Wildebeests were added to the bill as a replacement for
young USA fuzz 'n squeal combo The Neumans! Arrived lunch time Friday 31st
October in tow with fellow 'Beest Russ Wilkins, as he and his good Lady Muck,
as Lord Rochester were slated to perform just a few hours after our arrival. So
we missed the opening Thursday night but heard from folks around that it was a
top night with Spain's Medway style showcase Loss Cesareas and Autoramas (from Brazil) singled out for praise! And so after driver Sam brought us in from
Alicante airport to the Pierre et Vacances hotel / timeshare apartment style
facility booked for us we had a wee relax and then headed downtown to see what
was happening.
The "being knocked on the head with a
hammer over 'n' over again" style of one man band King Cayman was already
ringing out when we arrived at RockStar, a bar on one of the numerous "hello is
this little England I thought it was Spain" type streets that litter this
sun-trap bolthole city... After a beer we await the arrival of Lord Rochester's
drummer for the day, the very dapper Jorge from Dr Explosion and head janitor
at Estudios Circo Perrotti. Plagued by a few pre-gig sound problems but we were
soon on the way with Lord Roch's larger than life Bo Diddley-itis show which
was of course proved a surefire winner with the swelling crowd, "Deadly
Daddy", "Seven Steps To Heaven" and the utterly infectious
strains of "Lucy Lou" gave way to their tasteful cover of Los
Mockers' "My Baby" with Jorge out front on harmonica and yours truly
behind the traps. They ended with an alternately stomping/hushed Bo Diddley,
with your humble scribe adding vocals to "Cadillac" and finally a
frantic romp through "Boys". They've plenty of forty-five fayre out
on Spanish label Saturno so there's no excuse for including them in your next
lil' soirée.
The main party venue for all the evening
shenanigans is Ku, which kinda looks like a giant spaceship. You go inside to
the main hall with the stage and a few drinks bars and then you step outside
but you're still sort of inside; everything bathed in ultra-violet light with
more bars, plastic booths etc. This was where all the record and clothes stalls
were dotted throughout. Hey, being Hallowe'en there were some pretty weird 'n
wonderful costumes to spy too such as the telephone box man, the half-a-tomb
with fairy lights inside and a cross on top guy, not to mention a mega plethora
of Monster Club style patrons, oh yeah and some giant sex organs who were
wandering nonchalantly about. That night's live group action included such as
the howling, thumping tones of Cyclops from USA, a one man/one woman apparition
of swampy and trashy sounds played out in basic fashion on guitar and drums and
a barrage of caterwauling vocals.
Then came The Limboos, a new-ish Spanish
group that includes lead guitarist Roi and lead vocalist Marky from The Phantom
Keys - one of the saving graces in the Spanish-grown r'n'b garage stakes these
last few years. The Keys also used to have former Thanes Mal Kergan in their
ranks - just thought I'd mention that ... So anyway yeah, the Limboos - well I
dug the more basic stuff they played in the beginning of the set but as soon as
they started to get a bit tricksy and almost kinda too clever etc and then bringing
in the brass section and ... well it's all a bit too soul revue and polite for
my more primal rock'n'roll tastes but a lot of the kids seemed to dig it so who
am I to criticise? Except that I do prefer the less is more approach.
For me the absolutely best group of the
evening, without a shadow of doubt, were The No-Talents. Of French origin, they
are a punk-style group who's wild thriving pizzazz, goose-bumping levels of
whirling energy and pure rock'n'roll drive was always gonna put most other groups
to shame; guitarist Lili Zeller is one of the best adverts for ever wanting to
pick up a guitar and play, while the frantic, whirling dervish moves and
vehement sounding, spat-out and hollered vocals of Cecilia are perfect for such
a group as this - hers is a name synonymous with many action-packed garage beat
and punk projects over the years: Wild Wild Records, the Loud Mufflers, and
various other groups to which her first name has been affixed, and more
recently, of course, there was the similarly absorbing Operation X.
Anyway, The No-Talents take the fierce
spirit of punk rock when it was still great, with just a pinch of the early
Slits and Kleenex (cliche I know but it's still what comes through in Cecilia
and Lili's shrill staccato vocal outpourings) and the beat and melodic tuneage
of some 60s garage beat essence, and they stomp and writhe and jump and shout
like the world's about to explode any minute. As I've said all this bluster and
frenzy is matched up to wildly absorbing garage sounds, their teetering on the
brink assaults jaggedly appealing and seriously good fun, yet still with an
edgy pop sass and nous which is what carries them beyond mere regurgitation or
blank xerox mo-chines: bassist Ivan le Terrible and drummer and schooled rock'n'roll
scribe Laurent Bigot (Ugly Things...) are also thoroughly integral pieces that
so enable the group's furiously rhythmic, strident approach By the end of the
set everyone was spent, the players as well as the recipients of the onslaught.
Outrageous and punk-rockingly great! Was great hanging out with them and Jacko
again too. Also great to bump into old pals like Tony "the Tyger"
Sanchez who I've not seen for many years!
Following that was always gonna be a
tough spot, irrespective of might, brawn, rock credo etc ... Jorge introduced
me to a couple of folks I'd never met before like Ana (At First Sight) and Jake
from Austin's The Black Angels and so we had a good yakkety yak about all the
great 60s TX punk bands, Ana spinning some cool discs in the process and she
told me about this book she's just put out all about Tonto & The Renegades,
of "Little Boy Blue" infamy. It's the first in a series called
"Still Spinning Around at 45 rpm". Wow, not only that she then gave
me a copy so I can review it ... so I'm looking forward to sharing that soon
probably in Shindig or Ugly Things or...
I missed The Dragtones so I had another
wander around the different stalls just taking it all in and then I had a
nightcap. It didn't take too much more for my brain to say ya know what I've
almost had it for live groups tonight, although I first tried a little of famed
US combo New Bomb Turks. Truth is though I never really liked much of what I
heard on record from them, too heavy? Hmmm so maybe it was a given that I wasn't
gonna be swayed by their live show. There's just something that's way too - I
dunno - is it like hardcore sounding or something? For me it's altogether too
grungy and rawk for my delicate or discerning tastes. My main gripe is that I
find it really difficult to locate any real tunes or hooks that if they are
there then must be buried under the mounds of cranked distortion bludgeoning
bass and drums and phlegm-coated vocal growl that seems to inform much of their
oeuvre! Anyway don't wanna slag them off too much seeing as I didn't watch the
show and hundreds did and seemed to be really enjoying them. I really needed to
get some beauty sleep and preserve the energies as our lot, we Wildebeests
were gonna be playing a set in less than 24 hours.
Saturday's afternoon session didn't
start the way it might have as someone forgot to bring the Girl Trouble movie/documentary DVD so some of us sat around awhile and
wondered when this would happen. I left to go to soundcheck around 2 O'clock
and it still hadn't appeared but I am reliably informed that it did eventually
get shown and was apparently really good. I'll need to get a look see at that
someday. Set up done'n'dusted, we went in search of food then came back to RS
for a few cool beers before dispersing to prepare for that night's live
entertainment etc.
The UFO was again full to the gunnels by
the time I got there. First group I saw anything of was Magnetix who we've
shared stages with a few times, I like what they do most of the time but tonight
I only caught little snatches as we were busy preparing our set list, having a
drink and blether with the Dirty Water Gang - Paul Manchester ever so keen to
show off his precious (empty) merch box he'd been trailing around with him all
day. I do recall Magnetix having quite a full on thing going with some
abrasive, clipped drum bashing, blustery incoherent (to me) vocals and some
fairly nasty sounding guitar.
Portuguese lot TT Syndicate were up next and put
on an energetic show with a few cool, uncluttered showings but, like the
Limboos the previous night, went for the big soul/r'n'b revue style approach
after awhile and flung in some cheesy "popcorn" which was all fluffy
and a bit too sugary and kinda hurt my teeth a little ... not salty enough I guess?
But, again, they seemed to go down well with the by now well-lubricated
party-goers.
I can't say too much about the next band
because I play drums and provide some of the vocals but I will say it was great
party atmosphere for The Wildebeests to play at and I think we rose to the
occasion in our commando pirate get-ups ... Paul Revere RIP and off we went
blazing through "Just Like Me", some of our tunes - it was great to
see/hear people singing along to "One Minute's Time" and "Lucinda"
- and a load of punk r'n'b shenanigans the likes of "Mongoloid",
"Diddy Wah Diddy", "Clarabella" and "Action Time
Vision". It got pretty hot in the costumes and Russ had to use a Vox
Phantom-style guitar once or twice as he kept on bustin' strings; two or three
drumsticks went the same way too. We encored with "Suzy Is A
Headbanger" and we were done! The best compliment amongst many was that
"we brought it back again".
US combo Danny and the Darleans took to
the stage next and were really pretty cool although it took a little while for
some people to realise they might be missing something so they better amble
back in smartish ... Danny himself (former Gories string breaker) does a pretty
good beat / garage turn and the bass and drums held together well. The drummer
is one of these top breed loons in the finest Moon/Prince fashion. "You
Drive Me Insane" was a highlight although some of the other songs they
played were pretty exciting in that sloppy/not-sloppy garage beat vein.
I wasn't sure I was still even gonna be
around for last group of the night / morning as Russ, Saskia and I were gonna
have to be up and out before half-eight Sunday morning to make our 11am flight
back to Edinburgh ... but seeing as it was Tacoma Washington's mighty Girl
Trouble I thought I would at least make a valiant effort to catch the start.
I'm glad I stayed and at least caught their first few numbers, as after the
warm up and intro piece they burst into a kickin' version of the Shadows Of
Knight's great n groovy "Gospel Zone". And by the time I managed to
snake my way through the heaving throng, taking in a couple of minutes to say
some buenos noche's to stray pals etc I could still hear Girl Trouble's
"crappy garage" noise echoing all around... but it was now time to
make my way out and along the short walk back to hotel and Zzzzzz!