Shouting Down Clouds, Brad Arliss and Johnny Utah.
Long time, neglected blog, promise to do better blah blah blah.
Saturday night, I went to a small gig put on by Fight the Cistern (so called because the toilets at the venue don’t flush: No solids!). Two bands played, Shouting Down Clouds and Johnny Utah. What made this special is that it was a throwback to days gone by. A DIY gig, not designed to make money, just to provide entertainment for a small group of people. Gigs like this still happen up and down the country but seem to be less prevalent these days. The venue was one of Grimsby’s better-known practice rooms, people took their own drinks.
It would be easy to assume that the bands would treat an event like this as a glorified practice session. This wasn’t the case, both bands delivered the same kind of show they would put on for much larger venues and crowds (I can attest, having seen them both at the annual Bargefest amongst other places). Shouting Down Clouds delivered their post-grunge set with the same blistering intensity one would expect. Alex Wheeler’s piercing vocals, reminiscent of early Silverchair, providing the perfect accompaniment to the stompy melodies throughout. Bassist, Jon North provided anguish filled backing vocals, and drummer, Marcus King pounded with exuberance, accompanied by his entertaining trademark gurning.
Johnny Utah guitarist, Brad Arliss, performed a brief acoustic set next. The highlight being a cover of May 16th by Lagwagon, a song that one wouldn’t expect lends itself to an unplugged performance, but after hearing it, I couldn’t imagine a world where it doesn’t exist. He then re-joined Johnny Utah, to hammer their way through their punk covers set, smiling faces all round, crowd joining in with singing along to some of their favourite songs.
What made this gig so special? It was £2, purely to cover the costs of hiring the room out. Whilst the bands weren’t all punk musically, the ethos certainly was. This was simply about having a good time with musicians from prior Grimsby staples such as Glo, Worthless, D-Pwa, Pinto, Not Tonight and the Headaches, Luna Suit and Kung Fu Joe (If I forgot to mention anyone’s band, I apologise, I’m working from memory). The venue’s walls are adorned with flyers from Grimsby gigs past and present – a reminder of what a bustling scene it once was. In this day and age, where the owner of Wetherspoons actively tries to destroy the local pub trade by undercutting them, yet offering nothing but hegemonic venues, then uses the profits to arrogantly push his political views through your letterbox, some of which laughably blame the EU for destroying ‘our country’s identity’. Its hard for struggling businesses to take any risks whatsoever now, so at least in our town, this has a dramatic impact on musicians. Growth stifled by only being able to play the same venues, with the same crowds.
It felt exciting, like being young again. For the first time in a very long time, I went out, not knowing what to expect. A tinge of anticipation that I hadn’t felt in years. After talking to others, it seemed I wasn’t alone. It was a great feeling to have and I hope that events like this will become more commonplace. A big thanks to Fight the Cistern and I look forward to the next one.
[image error]New book.
In other news, whilst I’ve been not writing my blog, I’ve been writing an anthology of horror shorts, along with the Socialist Network. It can be bought here for £1.99 digital or £5.99 paperback. It is also free for Kindle Unlimited users.
