WASTED YOUTH + THE MAGIC E’S + JOPY – THE PIPER, ST. LEONARDS-ON-SEA 21.9.24
OK, I have to come totally clean from the outset of this review by stating that London post-punk band Wasted Youth were merely a name that I was aware of back in the day and one I hadn’t ever properly investigated and thus they remained a mystery to me…until now that is! Talk about being late to the party! I don’t ever recall having seen them performing live at a gig before and can’t find any evidence that they ever played in Brighton until last year’s Prince Albert do on 26th March. I don’t even think that they recorded a John Peel session either! So maybe I could be partially forgiven for not checking them out? My bewilderment for not discovering them back in the day, has this evening been compounded and now I feel totally robbed of 4 decades of Wasted Life enjoyment!
Wasted Youth emerged from the Plaistow power pop trio The Tickets who were fronted by Ken Scott with brother Andy on drums and John McGeady on bass. Wasted Youth were originally active between 1979 and 1982, with their blend of post-punk/pre-Goth with dark acoustic strains. The line-up back then featured Ken Scott (vocals and guitar), Rocco Barker (guitar), Nick Nicole (synth), Darren Murphy (bass) and Andy Scott (drums). They released a number of singles which gained success in the Indie Charts, including 1980’s ‘Jealousy’ (No.23), and ‘I’ll Remember You’ (No.19), 1981’s ‘Rebecca’s Room’ (No.15), and 1982’s ‘Wildlife’ (No.21) and ‘Reach Out’ (No.42). They also had success on the albums front with 1981’s ‘Wild And Wandering’ (No.9) and 1983’s ‘Beginning Of The End’ (No.13). These records were released through Bridgehouse Records, a label set up by the bass player’s father, former boxer Terry Murphy.
Wasted Youth’s final gig was at The Venue in London on 6th December 1982. After this Rocco Barker went on to join the band Flesh for Lulu and was in the Channel 4 show, ‘A Place in Spain: Costa Chaos’. Sadly, the band’s bassist, Darren Murphy, died of cancer on 15th February 2012. The band’s drummer, Andy Scott, also of Cockney Rejects fame, died of cancer on 29th May 2020.
In October 2021, Ken Scott and Rocco Barker announced that they were reviving Wasted Youth, with new members Ray ‘Sonic’ Hanson (from Thee Hypnotics) on guitar, Alan Temple (from The Low Gods) on drums, Teresa Casella (Miranda Sex Garden) on bass and Josef Rosam on (from Dorothy Vallens) second bass, synth and percussion, who joined in March 2022. The first shows for the reformed band sold out within hours of going on sale and their Prince Albert gig in Brighton last year, which we stupidly failed to attend, was the first six gigs confirmed for 2023. This year witnessed the band making a welcome return to the venue on Friday 20th September, which was yesterday. However, as is always the case there was a clash of gigs and so opted to support local trio Jopy for the release of their debut EP at a gig at the nearby Hope & Ruin which was happening at exactly the same time – Review HERE. Thus we find ourselves further along the coast this evening at The Piper in St. Leonards-on-Sea in order to catch Wasted Youth’s next performance. By strange occurrence, Jopy are actually the first of two support acts this evening, more on them shortly.
The current Wasted Youth lineup grace us with their presence at 9:49pm and give us a sizeable dose of 13 tunes across the next 68 minutes. I tried my best to follow along tune-by-tune, but without the prior knowledge of their material and the only (tiny) setlists to the rear of the brightly lit stage, it was quite a challenge.
The venue had filled up somewhat, but sadly was not sold out like last night’s Brighton gig. We are camped at the very front and take in as much atmosphere as possible. They commence with ‘Switch Off The Sun’ which is currently unreleased and it’s a slow chugging number which highlights founder member Ken Scott’s vocals, which are delivered in an American style. The song then segues straight into the faster ‘Little Jack’ which is found on their 1982 ‘The Beginning Of The End’ album. This has some decent drumming from Alan Temple and is a proto punk blues sounding track replete with swirling guitar sounds, especially from Rocco Barker who is standing immediately in front of me and putting his Gibson Les Paul Junior through its paces. Whilst studying his playing, it occurs to me that Rocco has a John Cooper Clarke and Ronny Wood look about him – He fits the rock dude look very nicely!
Their third selection, ‘Maybe We’ll Die With Them’ from 1981’s ‘Wild And Wandering’ album, on vinyl sounds as though it’s a lost Ultravox! song that could be a hidden track on either of their 1977 long-players. Whereas I didn’t actually pick up on this during the gig. I had, however, noted the drums intro was not too far off Generation X’s ‘King Rocker’ and the guitars were sounding really meaty, not unlike the best Sex Pistols tunes. The quintet were really going for it and Josef, who joined the band in March 2022, even managed to break a string and had to switch to another guitar which I’ve seen Joy Division use before in old videos. Ken was also taking care of keys during this track. This tune was for me the highlight of their set and totally worth the trip across county to see it played live. I should have been singularly feeling elated, but in all honesty I was extremely miffed! How the hell did I ever miss this track when it came out 43 years ago! I felt conned and annoyed with myself to be honest, and this almost always never happens regarding music discoveries! Moving on….
The quintets next choice was a new number titled ‘Fishes’ which had its live debut on 21st March 2024 at Brudenell Social Club in Leeds. This was a less intense affair than its predecessor but was still enjoyable, especially the drums and the guys did eventually rock on out. ‘Here I Go’ from Ken Scott’s ‘Before, After & Later’ 2023 album was up next. This had a decent keys preset to it and was another slowie, but was heavy on the guitars and rocked on nicely in a swirling psychedelic way and there’s true depth of sound here. The next tune was ‘My Friends Are Dead’ from their 1980 ‘I’ll Remember You’ single as well as the ‘My Friends Are Dead’ EP from the same year was produced and featured Peter Perrett. This had a big rock intro and a New York Dolls vibe.
Ken informed the faithful that were gathered that their next selection was their first ever single, this being ‘Jealousy’. It’s quiet and almost nursery rhymesque in substance, but does flit between loud and sedate parts and back again. As you would expect, this was very well received and the earworm line “You’re jealous is killing me” stuck in my head, but not for long as ‘Housewife’ was upon us and that had the shout “You’re such a housewife”. The songs guitar and drum intro sound like The Specials ‘Ghost Town’ meets Joy Division, before going all heavy rockish. Their ‘Rebecca’s Room’ single from 1981 was their next choice and this live version starts with an almost ‘Born To Be Alive’ (Patrick Hernandez) riff, before getting rather funky like The Clash used to. Although on record it has the sound of early Simple Minds meets Bauhaus ‘Kick In The Eye’ meets possibly Fad Gadget. Rocco was certainly throwing some guitar axe poses.
‘Man Found Dead in Graveyard’ from 1982’s ‘The Beginning Of The End’ album was their next choice. It starts out as a really slow rock ballad and then the guitar riffs kick in and we are now entrenched in Iggy pop and The Stooges territory, as well as a heavier feel than ‘Roadrunner’ (The Modern Lovers) and was without doubt another set highlight. It was a long tune and pretty epic! The slow drumming led post punk ‘If Tomorrow’ from 1981’s ‘Wild And Wandering’ album was up next with its occasional explosions, and was eclipsed by the lengthy set closing ‘Survivors Pt. 2’ aka ‘Charlie And Harry’ from the same album. There’s more Sex Pistols vibes in this one with many layers of sounds and frenetic energy. During this track, I noted that Graham Crabb of Pop Will Eat Itself was merrily bopping away next to me. Wasted Youth had been on the same bill as them last October, so I guess Crabbi was up for another dose of Wasted Youth!
The band left the stage and the fans shouted for more and were rewarded with ‘I Wish I Was A Girl’ which was also culled from 1981’s ‘Wild And Wandering’ album. This tune comes fully laden with guitar riffs and finds Wasted Youth at their punkiest, along with drumming sounds akin to Cozy Powell meets The Rolling Stones ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ and at 10:57pm that was our lot. Wasted Youth are difficult to pigeonhole, but that’s their charm and now they are absolutely on my radar!
Wasted Youth:
Ken Scott – vocals, synth, tambourine
Rocco Barker – guitar
Josef Rosam – guitar
Sabrina Amade – bass
Alan Temple – drums
Wasted Youth setlist:
‘Switch Off The Sun’ (unreleased)
‘Little Jack’ (from 1982 ‘The Beginning Of The End’ album)
‘Maybe We’ll Die With Them’ (from 1981 ‘Wild And Wandering’ album)
‘Fishes’ (unreleased)
‘Here I Go’ (from 2023 Ken Scott ‘Before, After & Later’ album)
‘My Friends Are Dead’ (from 1980 ‘I’ll Remember You’ single & 1980 ‘My Friends Are Dead’ EP)
‘Jealousy’ (from 1980 single, 1980 ‘My Friends Are Dead’ EP & 1982 ‘The Beginning Of The End’ album)
‘Housewife’ (from 1981 ‘Wild And Wandering’ album)
‘Rebecca’s Room’ (from 1981 ‘Rebecca’s Room’ single)
‘Man Found Dead in Graveyard’ (from 1982 ‘The Beginning Of The End’ album)
‘If Tomorrow’ (from 1981 ‘Wild And Wandering’ album)
‘Survivors Pt. 2’ (from 1981 ‘Wild And Wandering’ album)
(encore)
‘I Wish I Was A Girl’ (from 1981 ‘Wild And Wandering’ album)
There were two support acts this evening, first up were the aforementioned Brighton trio of Jopy which is pronounced ‘Joe pea’ as opposed to ‘Jopp pea’. They consist of Jo Parnell (vocals and guitar), Clown Baby (bass) and Louis Relf (drums) and they dropped their debut ‘Planet Zombie’ 6 tune EP on 12” transparent purple vinyl via the Goo Records imprint yesterday. This evening we are rewarded with a 32 minute 9 song set which commenced at 7:58pm. It’s the trios first ever Hastings (St. Leonards) gig and the stage is bigger than last night’s corner of The Hope & Ruin bar.
Tonight, Jo is stage right (our left) and Clown Baby, who is sporting different face-paint than 24 hours earlier, is stage left (our right), which is the opposite of last night. Behind the duo sits stixman Louis, who notably holds his left drumstick higher up than that of his right, whatever suits I say!
They kicked off with the first of all 6 tunes from their EP in the form of their fast, rockin’ ‘Graveyard Romance’ which certainly threw down the gauntlet to the other bands and pricked the attention of the punters in the room. Next up was their 2023 single ‘Ka Ka Killer’ which commences with a U2 style guitar riff, before rockin’ out again. Selection three is their unreleased tune called ‘Twisting’ which initially reminds me of the Talking Heads meets rockabilly vibes and then goes on to give a hint of The Alarm but with much greater enthusiasm. ‘Head Hunters Pub And Grub’ from their ‘Planet Zombie’ EP is the next choice and this benefits from a punk style beginning before morphing into a song the Sweet would have been proud of. Again there were more copious amounts of rockin’ on out to be had here.
The EP title tune (‘Planet Zombie’) came at us next with its initial heavy rock intro before firmly entrenching itself into glam rock territory. Jo’s vocals on the chorus of this track reminded me of Brett Anderson and her guitarwork here was outstanding. For ones so young, they really are already a tight unit. More echoey U2 sounding guitar work followed with great use of the tremolo with the arrival of The Cramps sounding ‘Honey The Vampire’. Jopy’s other single from last year had an airing next, this being the slow jangly indie Brit-pop sounding ‘Headshot’. Their penultimate offering was ‘Birdwatching’ which was dedicated to another Jo in the audience that enjoyed that relaxing pastime. From the off, the tune reminds me of The Clash replete with surf sounding guitar, but then I get a nod to The B-52’s ‘Give Me Back My Man’ tune, in particular the “I’ll give you fish, I’ll give you candy” section. They sign off with ‘Purchase No.3’ which really sees Jo let loose on the tremolo, as Clown Baby and Louis head on off into Krautrock territory.
At 8:30pm that was our lot and I swear tonight was even better than last night in Brighton. They absolutely nailed it! To be honest, I wasn’t the only one to notice as Wasted Youth’s Rocco Barker has gone on record and stated on his social media the following: “Jo & her band were quite possibly the most exciting young things that I’ve seen in decades. They blew me away and are clearly destined for some fabulous times ahead.x” – Rocco Barker (Wasted Youth).
So wanna know what all the big fuss is about? Then Jopy currently have a couple of Brighton gigs in the pipeline, the first of which will be as part of the ‘Mutations’ festival, where they will be playing at the Green Door Store on Saturday 9th November (details HERE but set time still TBC) and then they play the Goo Records x Hidden Herd All-Dayer at The Hope & Ruin on Saturday 7th December 2024 – Purchase your tickets HERE.
Jopy:
Jo Parnell (she/her) – vocals and guitar
Clown Baby (they them) – bass
Louis Relf (he/him) – drums
Jopy setlist:
‘Graveyard Romance’ (from 2024 ‘Planet Zombie’ EP)
‘Ka Ka Killer’ (a 2023 single)
‘Twisting’ (unreleased)
‘Head Hunters Pub And Grub’ (from 2024 ‘Planet Zombie’ EP)
‘Planet Zombie’ (from 2024 ‘Planet Zombie’ EP)
‘Honey The Vampire’ (from 2024 ‘Planet Zombie’ EP)
‘Headshot’ (a 2023 single)
‘Birdwatching’ (from 2024 ‘Planet Zombie’ EP)
‘Purchase No.3’ (from 2024 ‘Planet Zombie’ EP)
Completing the bill are The Magic E’s who consist of guitarist/vocalist Pete Thompson (stage right, our left), drummer Stuart Catchpole (to the rear) and former Then Jerico founding member and bass player Jasper Stainthorpe (stage left, our right), who have come down from Norwich to play for us this evening.
Since 2016, The Magic Es have released 2 critically-acclaimed albums, 2 EP’s and 8 singles. They’ve received radio play across the globe on 100s of stations and a mountain of enthusiastic reviews from the likes of KEXP, BBC Introducing, XS Noize, One On One Music and Amazing Radio. What’s all the more remarkable is that they’ve done this without the backing of any label; pure, hard work and a love for making and playing music. As well as releasing music at a remarkable rate they’re no slouches when it comes to performing. They’ve completed UK tours and can be found gigging up and down the country on a regular basis, although this evening is my debut encounter with the trio.
We are rewarded with a 31 minute 7 song set, which commenced at 8:43pm with ‘We The People’ which can be found on their 2019 ‘Dead Star’ album. I immediately pick up on The Rolling Stones meets Wreckless Eric sounding vocals for this deep down gritty pub rock blues number. I gaze down on the stage floor and observe copious amounts of foot-pedals available for both Jasper and Pete, which looks rather impressive, although I’m pretty certain that several of them aren’t actually used. When researching about the band, I noted that they too have shared a stage with Pop Will Eat Itself and so Crabbi must know them as well.
Selections two, three and four come from their new ‘Junkyard Toybox’ long-player, with the first of these being ‘Consequence Of You’ with its U2 style echoey guitar and The Alarm crop up in my mind again. The Rolling Stone influence is still present for this song. ‘Broken Dreams’ is next and we are informed that this will be their next single and is about no matter how much things are f*cked you simply must stick together and get on with it. It’s already evident that these, like the openers, are a very tight unit! Although ‘Never Thought It Would Be Like This’ comes from the new album, Pete informs us that he wrote the tune when he was young. There’s a decent mid-song funky bass riff in this which adds to the song’s overall enjoyment.
The lads slowed it down with ‘How Do You Sleep?’ from their 2017 ‘Wishing Well’ EP next, after which we had ‘Chelsea Bikes’ which Pete informs us was written after a party where he met some bloke called Maurice Steele and he kept saying “Chelsea Bikes” and it stuck. There’s a definite Oasis vibe going on in the track and I suspect that it could be one of their fan favourites. They signed off with ‘I Just Want To Tell You’ from their 2017 ‘It Goes On’ album, a song which starts slowly and builds and builds. Although nothing really new and unique about this trio’s set, it was an enthusiastic performance, but it was a shame that there weren’t loads of punters watching them to enjoy it, especially as they had come down from East Anglia to play for us, and at 9:14pm that was it.
The Magic E’s:
Pete Thompson – vox/guitars
Jasper Stainthorpe – bass/bv’s
Stuart Catchpole – drums/drumpads/shakers/ bv’s
The Magic E’s setlist:
‘We The People’ (from 2019 ‘Dead Star’ album)
‘Consequence Of You’ (from 2024 ‘Junkyard Toybox’ album)
‘Broken Dreams’ (from 2024 ‘Junkyard Toybox’ album)
‘Never Thought It Would Be Like This’ (from 2024 ‘Junkyard Toybox’ album)
‘How Do You Sleep?’ (from 2017 ‘Wishing Well’ EP)
‘Chelsea Bikes’ (from 2024 ‘Junkyard Toybox’ album)
‘I Just Want To Tell You’ (from 2017 ‘It Goes On’ album)
