THE METEORS + THE CORSAIRS + THE SCAVENGERS – THE ARCH, BRIGHTON 24.4.24
The Arch, formerly the ‘Zap Club’ was the venue for the night’s psychobilly extravaganza. We were primed for not one, but three psychobilly bands, including the UK’s founding psychobilly band The Meteors headlining. I’d had a psychobilly refresher delivered from the fabulous Electric Cowboy Club (E.C.C.) when we reviewed them at the end of March (Review HERE). On the back of that gig, I did a deep dive refresher of the genre. The term was originally coined either by the music press, The Cramps, or tonight’s headliners, depending on who you ask. I relished the opportunity to see the UK scene’s progenitors in action. Like everyone else, die-hard fans and newcomers alike gathering outside the venue, I was looking forward to getting my teeth into a night celebrating the point at which punk and rockabilly merge.
On arrival we found out that the night had been bumped back by half an hour from 6:30pm to 7pm. As the night was scheduled for an early finish this wasn’t too much of an inconvenience. If anything, the delay only deepened the anticipation for everyone waiting patiently outside. The club hasn’t changed much over the years, the layout is similar to back in the day with the stage area now being on the right hand side of where it used to be, and the sound, (when not cranked up too far) is as good as it ever was. It’s a great layout, with a few raised viewing points. The staff were apologetic about the hold up and a few other unexpected changes.
The Scavengers are recognizable faces around Brighton. If you’re a fan of psychobilly you might have been lucky enough to have caught them at the usual Brighton venues including The Prince Albert, Shortts Music Bar, and Caravanserai last year. There was a last-minute change to the usual lineup with Will Moore stepping in for regular drummer Martin Colbourne. Formed in 2016 by ex-Shooter Martin ‘Scavenger’. The current frontman Ian ‘Delta’ Anderson, (ex-Crazyhead, Swamp Delta and occasional Gaye Bykers On Acid) joined when asked to provide vocals for Shooter while they were supporting the UK Subs. Originally only performing covers, they now thread self-penned tracks through their sets.
Starting with ‘The Black Rider’, the band looked the part for the night, quiff/high-top hair, shades and the requisite double bass they offered the gathering audience exactly what they had come for. Specialising in old school garage rock The Scavengers blended blues and garage punk with a rockabilly edge. Live, they are raw, reverb heavy, and surprisingly tight given the supposed lack of time rehearsing with their guest drummer. The first two songs of the set gave the band the opportunity to feel out the stage and get into their stride.
By the third song, ‘Johnny Jet Pack’, a gathering audience was watching attentively. Those gathered were a mix from the original punk garage scene and younger members who had discovered the scene. They happily bounced and nodded along to the first act. More than one leg could be spotted twitching and tapping readiness for the mandatory mosh pit to form.
Having made it through the third song of the set, the quartet were clearly having fun and found their stride. “We got through that one!” Anderson said. “Big thank you to the Corsair’s for lending us their kit.” They didn’t need to admit that they hadn’t had time to rehearse. Experienced musicians, everyone holding their own, the band gelled from the start of their set. Nobody would have known this wasn’t the regular line-up. Hardcore Meteors fans who had claimed prize position at the front of the stage were none the wiser. They were happily nodding along to ‘Rowdy At The Roadhouse’ which featured a short solo from guitarist Lilt.
Just as they were finding their stride together, the iPad which had the lyrics on failed. Where others might have panicked Anderson just smiled and said “That’s lucky, I know the words to this one it’s called ‘Street 51’”, undeterred by the technical hitch the band played on. The audience danced along enthusiastically. The following song ‘Pin-Up Baby’ written by Anderson, was rough and ready in an extremely enjoyable way with a short drum solo and a “Cheers” to the crowd at the finish.
The venue had filled slowly since The Scavengers started. The audience were standing almost as if they’re still in lockdown, ‘old school rules’ were in action, everyone staking their spot. ‘Like A Bad Girl Should’ gave Lilt another opportunity to shine. Everything felt more garage rock, with Moore hammering the drums just before Anderson informed the audience that the last song was coming up. The band segued into the final song of their set ‘C.I.D’, a.UK Subs cover. Having delivered a tight, enjoyable set they left the audience thoroughly happy and primed for the rest of the night. You can catch the band ‘Playing the stuff they like, the way they like it’ next at The Pipeline in Brighton on 4th May.
The Scavengers:
Ian ‘Delta’ Anderson – vocals and guitar
Lilt – guitar
Neil Williams – bass and vocals
Will Moore – drums (replacing regular drummer Martin Colbourne for one night)
The Scavengers setlist:
‘The Black Rider’ (from 2020 ‘Rights Of Salvage’ album)
‘Two Monkey’s’ (from 2020 ‘Rights Of Salvage’ album)
‘Johnny Jetpack’ (from 2020 ‘Rights Of Salvage’ album)
‘Spectre’ (from 2020 ‘Rights Of Salvage’ album)
‘Rowdy At The Roadhouse’
‘Talking To The Girls (On Street 51)’ (Swamp Delta cover) (from 2020 ‘Rights Of Salvage’ album)
‘Pin-Up Baby’
‘Like A Bad Girl Should’ (from 2019 ‘Picked From The Bone’ album)
‘C.I.D’ (UK Subs cover – from 2020 ‘Rights Of Salvage’ album)
www.facebook.com/thescavengersuk
The Corsairs formed in 1995 and are a three-piece from Oxford and Hampshire. Taking the to stage frontman Mark Loveridge let the audience know what to expect “We’re gonna give you some different stuff I hope you like it”. Mainly offering covers they play what feels like double the breakneck speed you would normally expect from psychobilly. I spent most of their set trying to gauge if the tempo was double or triple time. Before they took us off on a whirlwind sonic journey Loveridge asked “Any Rancid fans out there? Good, this is called ‘Timebomb’”. From here on in the antics of the band held the audience in thrall as they cavorted relentlessly daring the audience to keep up.
Next, a cover of the Primitives ‘Crash’. Loveridge flew through this song with a large smile across his face which stayed in place for the whole set. His delivery was almost manic at points, high level energy powering through his performance. Without a blink of an eye the band were straight into Tenploe Tudor’s ‘Swords Of A Thousand Men’, somehow the audience managed to keep up, word perfect on the chorus. The flawless and tight delivery was infectious. Everyone danced and sang along arms flailing in the air, the tempo fast, enthusiasm strong. The song outro was a thumping, accompanied with a jubilant “Cheers!” from Loveridge who then asked the audience to “Make noise!”.
During the intro to the next song Loveridge informed the audience that they had two-tone/Ska royalty playing with them in ex- Bad Manners guitarist Simon Cuell. After some banter between the two Loveridge almost inevitably asked “Who wants to hear some ‘Bad Manners? We’re gonna be doing all sorts of Sh*t!”. The song they went for was ‘Lip Up Fatty’, which really got the audience going, especially at the front.
A slight change of tack with the next song in the set indicated with Loveridge saying. “Thank you! We’re gonna do a bit of punk, what do you say about that? This is one that’s called ‘Ever Fallen In Love?”. Not only was Loveridge very happy about this cover, but so were the audience. At this point I should probably say that not only was Loveridge playing the double bass and singing full pelt, but he was also doing so while balancing on his double bass for most of the songs, while not a new trick it certainly catches the attention. Pivoting again Loveridge addressed the crowd “We’re gonna do some Motörhead who loves a bit of Motörhead who Love’s a bit of ‘Ace Of Spades’?! Are you ready? Come on are you f**king. Ready?!” As promised, they launched into a rockabilly version of the song. As if waiting for the cue a mosh pit started up. Thanking the incredibly enthused audience Loveridge informed us that next up, as promised will be some ska, launching into, Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs ‘Wooly Bully’ unsurprisingly another firm favourite with the audience.
“We’ve got time for another couple of numbers, this one’s another cover … So, we have any other surfers in the audience … of course okay we wanna see you surfing!”. The audience went crazy as the band started the opening bars of ‘Wipe Out’ by The Surfaris. Pausing only to introduce the drummer Nigel Parsler who did a short solo before the band segued into ‘Surfin’ Bird -The Bird Is The Word’, which they somehow manage to play faster than the Ruffled Feathers. On the close of the song, they directed the audience to the merch stall and told them they would be ending on a cover of The Stray Cats, ‘Rock This Town’.
For the encore the corsairs went a little off-piste from their setlist and song selection. Covering The Wurzels classics ‘The Combine Harvester’ and ‘I Am A Cider Drinker’. Leaving on a high with the audience thoroughly warmed-up the band thanked the audience, venue and staff before making their way to the merch desk.
The Corsairs:
Mark Loveridge – vocals and double bass
Simon Cuell – guitar
Nigel Parsler – drums
The Corsairs setlist:
‘Timebomb’ (Rancid cover)
‘Crash’ (Primitives cover)
‘Swords Of A Thousand Men’ (Tenpole Tudor cover)
‘Lip Up Fatty’ (Bad Manners Cover)
‘Hungry Like A Wolf’ (Duran Duran cover)
‘Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve)’ (Buzzcocks cover)
‘Ace Of Spades’ (Motörhead cover)
‘Wooly Bully’ (Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs cover)
‘Wipe Out’ (The Surfaris cover)
‘Surfin’ Bird – Bird Is The Word’ (The Trashmen cover)
‘Rock This Town’ (Stray Cats cover)
(encore)
‘The Combine Harvester (Brand New Key)’ (The Wurzels Cover)
‘I Am A Cider Drinker’ (The Wurzels cover)
There are several things The Meteors bring to the stage that set them apart from their contemporaries. Firstly, their current drummer chooses to stand behind his kit, an impressive feat for an entire set and the power he attacks his kit with. The second is Paul Fenech’s voice. A deep gravelly boom on all thirty of their albums that made them stand apart from those who came after them.
The venue was vibrating with anticipation as the formidable drummer and the bassist went for it. The rhythm section was not moving, just holding space for Fenech’s renowned vocals to kick in. This was where the anticipation dissipated for me. Almost indiscernible Fenech’s voice was scratchy instead of rough and drowned out by the sheer ferocity of his own guitar playing and his other musicians. I just about made out his statement of “I’m gonna give it the best shot I’ve got”.
Willing to give him the benefit of the doubt I stuck with it. Artists voices can falter for any number of reasons, and he has been leading this band for forty-four years. Given previous setlists from the current tour, I think they started with ‘Little Red Riding Hood’. I came to the conclusion that the sound was cranked up so high it was impossible to make out what he was singing bar a few catches snippets. With thirty odd albums under the band’s belt, it was going to be difficult to nail down which songs were being covered as I couldn’t hear the lyrics or Fenech’s introductions.
Seemingly aware of the issue I managed to catch Fenech saying “I don’t know what I’m, doing we’re doing our best” whether this was meant for the sound engineer, his band mates or the audience I was unsure. He then attempted to introduce his drummer, “All the way from the back street of Mexico … he’s on the drums” but the name was drowned out. It was a shame the drummer was fantastic. He played hard and gelled perfectly with the bassist, however by this point I don’t think the audience really cared what the band were playing. Most were singing along in groups at each other and among themselves, whether they were singing the right songs is anyone’s guess. From a few snippets my best guess is that they were playing ‘Fire, Fire’.
With the onset of a thundering lead in from the drummer, the inevitable mosh pit started to pulse and expand. The participants were indulging in ‘Wrecking’ a style that the band’s fans invented that became a staple of the psychobilly scene to this day. Becoming occasionally fractious, more and more were pulled in from the surrounding audience. I’m not averse to a decent mosh pit, but this was indiscriminate.
Temporarily distracted by the activity from the audience I finally made out what appeared to be a cover of ‘Domino’ by Roy Orbison. That track appeared to be followed by ‘F**k Your World’ at least I think that was what Fenech said before he followed with “What a way to earn a living aye?!” Much as I know The Meteors and Fenech have devoted following, it was really the drummer and the bassist that held the set together.
Having managed to make out a few songs from snippets of lyrics, it seemed that Fenech had finally either sorted whatever technical issues were drowning him out or found his voice. By the time the band hit ‘I Don’t Worry About It’ he was more audible. The audience applauded with enthusiasm, but then they had after the end of every track. Fenech informed the audience that the next song was about drugs, I couldn’t tell you which track it was. At the end of this song, he spoke again, “We never tried to tell anyone what to think, if you don’t like the music by all means go f**k yourselves …” to loud cheers. I honestly would love to tell you I enjoyed the songs performed live, but I don’t think this gig was the best way to judge them.
Fenech then told the audience the last song was dedicated to them. He also gave details of the show they were doing in London the next day, asking everyone to come along. His parting words before the last song, “One last song for you and we’ve got a f**king ‘Wrecking Crew’”, we made a quick exit as the final bars of ‘Wrecking Crew’ played out.
The Meteors:
P. Paul Fenech – vocals and guitar
Ivan – bass
Lobito – drums
The Meteors setlist:
‘Little Red Riding Hood’ (from 1998 ‘The Mutant Monkey And The Surfers From Zorch’ album)
‘Fire Fire’ (from 2012 ‘Maniac Rockers From Hell’ album)
‘Domino’ (Roy Orbison Cover)
‘F**k Your World’ (from 2012 ‘Doing the Lord’s Work’ album)
‘I Don’t Worry About It’ (from 2023 ‘Wreckin’ Crew (Bonus Track Edition)’ album)
“Unknown”
(encore)
‘Wreckin’ Crew’ (from 2023 ‘Wreckin’ Crew (Bonus Track Edition)’ album).
