Cadaver Club/Thunderfuck & the Deadly Romantics/Full Moon Freaks/Hello Creepy Spider (Pivo -13-11-13) Glasgow

Very kindly submitted by G@l.
Much appreciation extended for the words.

The scene was set there was gonna be a rockin in the crypt tonight.

I must admit I went into this show with a preconceived yet fair idea, I thought, how the bands would sound and where it would all end up. I thought, like so many other crypt type shows I've seen over time, the Stingrytes, The Meteors, Stump, King Kurt etc etc etc that it would end up a wash of unintelligible swirling reverb tails with anaemically pale and thin guitar sounds that would capture what it was like to fall down a rather large deep hole and of course coupled with the occasional riff dotted here and there like a clandestine kiss snatched for fear of discovery..

Oh and finally not forgetting the obligatory primal male rockabilly barbaric YAWP which is really just a grunt come yell.

Well...lets see if I'm right then I thought to myself as I took a seat to observe the first of the acts.

First up were a two piece out fit consisting of Guitarist/Vocalist and Drummer/Vocal Harmony going by the name of...Hello Creepy Spider.!

We were informed from the stage by an awkwardly shy almost introvert young guitarist/vocalist just before they began their set, that this was in fact only their second gig evvvvaaa and that they don’t leave much space between their tracks but that they also hoped we would like what they do.

As you can imagine I wasn’t exactly filled with confidence.

Being only a two piece their stage presence at that point was as expected rather thread bear sparse and I remember thinking to my self... oh ffs here we go I hope you can hold this together kid.

So I relaxed and braced myself for the forth coming disaster that I envisaged was about to befall these two young fellas. The drummer strikes up a four click and...Bang.!!!!

Jeezuz we're right into it.. these kids transformed, as if by magic, before my very eyes filling the whole of stage and the lil shy fella, into one hell of a front man (its just the beginning of their gigging lives but this outfit are gonna be dangerous if they can keep the momentum going).

I felt violated, assaulted and cuddled all at once as they bounced riff after superb riff off of my stone thick head. Their songs were like a finely honed razor crafted with an air of experience that simply belied their years.

I'd even go as far as to say I haven’t heard a band who could write with that degree of originality in a long long time.

Outstanding riffs and extremely catchy melodies.

I wont give the game away by describing every song on their set, but they do a Sabbath esque riffed up and rocking the gaff version of the Bee Gee's Staying alive that is filled with more energy than Tesla’s coils another track this time one of their own compositions 'I dont waana die in a fire' set my grill alight.

If you enjoy loud indie melodic rock n roll extravaganzas get yourself along to one of Hello Creepy Spider shows these lads deserve an audience... You wont be disappointed.

After a short cigaretteing interlude; on returning to my perch I observed what can only be described as a flurry of activity.

Half a dozen blokes in medical scrubs were rushing this way and that with buggy’s filled with stage gear that could be easily mistaken for patients in a 1970's trauma movie. I thought to myself... Oh aye! we're now about to enter the morgue.. the evening had most definitely decided, and without any formal notice to anyone, that things were about to turn just a little bit darker.

And so it had begun.... it wasn’t long before the lead vocalist dawned white rubber gloves and the Full Moon freaks commenced their operation.

As the first note was struck I could have sworn I heard one of our medical team shout Scalpel, nurse I'm going in!

Their first track felt very airy with loads of space for each of the band to express themselves within and took us on a nice little journey past the paediatric Disney pictures on imaginary walls and gently sat us down in our wheelchairs at the end of the corridor ready to be picked up by our ever attentive orderlies.

Their next track achieved precisely that we were taken to yet another wing of the institution that is the R.P.H (Royal Psychobilly Hospital).

I felt like I was being pushed down ever decreasing corridors to finally be received in the great white expansive room with a window. It was medication time and Ratchet hadn’t showed up yet and the Full Moon Freaks...? Well... my mistake... they weren’t orderlies at all they were patients just like me.

I suddenly realised that what I was hearing was far darker than I had first thought might be.

Like Ratchet the Full Moon Freaks track content felt ever more cold, detached and somewhat oppressive and as the final note was played I found I had a notion for a juicy fruit and crashing right through the stairwell door to make my escape.

In short if 60's garage punk, surf, rockabilly and good old rock en rawl is your thing you cant go wrong with the...Full Moon Freaks.

So we're halfway through the crypt of rawk and rawl evening in Pivo Pivo.

A quick visit to the bar to stock up on vital supplies before we embark on the second half of what some might describe as a bit of an endurance test.... While stocking up a voice whispered in my shell like.... You might wanna disappear for a half an hour or so and come back later when the headline act are on...

Turning to face the source I am met with a colossal figure in a rather dapper pinstripe suit and Reactor boots topping off the ensemble with striking white contact lenses..

I've no idea who this fella is or what he's going on about.... Unknown to me at the time but Thunderfuck has just happened to me...!

Out of the corner of my eye I notice The Deadly Romantics are taking to the stage I nod a polite 'excuse me' to my new found monstrously charming companion and make my way back to my vantage point.

The Deadly Romantics strike out with their first number and its immediately clear that these lads know their way around a stage.

Their musicianship well in evidence and tight together as a unit.

Their musical genre and style is a more traditional long haired rock and they know exactly what they are doing with it.

Its certainly not their first or second outing and after the first few bars you'll be tapping your foot even though you might not want to or feel dirty doing it... you will be.

We're only a few bars into the Deadly Romantics set when from out of the darkness at the back of the hall it appeared like a giant pinstripe amoeba dragging its lumbering carcass out of the primordial swamp. On the short journey to the stage the thing somehow grew legs and became sentient. Thunderfuck had arrived.!

It would be so easy for such seasoned campaigners as the Deadly Romantics to become disillusioned, disinterested or jaded by this stage in their career but I can honestly say they hit it with passion and a firmly wedged tongue in each of their cheeks mainly Thunderfucks to be fair but you get the drift.

Each song afterwards was a pleasure not a chore for this observer and were introduced with vulgar anecdotes each adding to the sense of dramatic irony. Like the love song penned for the bar maid.. Down on me... or the reference to their day jobs... Porn Star... I like it when good front men come among an audience but in Thunderfucks case that might actually be literal.

Many questions still lay unanswered for me

I wonder if any of the reports were true about Thunderfuck?

Does he really not see in colour is everything really just shades of magnolia to him?

Does he really have no taste?

Is it true that everything tastes like unsweetened shred-dies?

Thunderfuck isn’t so much a man its more a concept and the Deadly Romantics are the perfect apostles preaching the word. If you see a bill with these chaps on it, rock is your thing and you like a good giggle then look no further than....Thunderfuck and the Deadly Romantics... one instinctively knows when something is right.

By the time the headline act took to the stage its safe to say that the crypt door had been well and truly kicked open and with that the undead seized their opportunity to make our world their stage. So with the defibrillator powered up and ready to go all that was left to be done was spark some life into the creature... Mr Crowe, Boom Chic Chic, Dirge and Draggle or as they are collectively known...The Cadaver Club.!

Power Pop, Pop Punk whatever neat little label you chose to pin on this amalgamation doesn’t do justice to the fervent energy this combo exudes from the stage. I have to state upfront that I have their 'A Fate Worse Than Life' Album and I absolutely love it.

However that didn’t prepare me for how damn good they are live and what a very pleasant surprise that was too.

There’s something about this band that puts a genuine smile on my face.

Hauntingly melodic with more ripping hooks than Hellraiser.

From back to front Draggle (Matty James) whom I'm also familiar with, solo material, in my opinion put in an absolutely outstanding performance on the drums driving the backline with Boom Chic Chic supplying a more sophisticated low end bass than I had first imagined. Dirge the sole guitarist carved out a rhythm/lead style I have seldom witnessed as accomplished and finally Mr Crowe the audiences conduit into the world of Cadaver Club screeched and howled with finesse.

If punky vibes are your thing then the album 'A Fate Worse Than Life' is well worth the download but if they come to a town near you then get down to your nearest funeral parlour and see the Cadaver Club live you wont regret it.