22/3/2012 Vice Squad @ Surya

Subject	Vice Squad @ Surya
DateCreated	3/25/2012 6:38:00 PM
	Thursday night and punk legends Vice Squad are playing a London gig. This is a good thing in itself, but to make things even more interesting they are playing at a new venue. I'd never heard of Surya before, although as it apparently opened in 2008 - I must have walked past it in Pentonville Road a few times without even noticing it was there - probably because it didn't look like a 'rock' place. However, things have changed and it's now being booked by promoters Glasswerk - so it looks like there will be plenty of rock acts appearing there now. They have The Dogbones coming up soon. The venue is about halfway between Kings Cross and Angel tube stations so not too far to walk from either. Surya is apparently an 'Eco Friendly' venue - which I guess can only be a good thing. It's basically a small club venue like The Fly/Bowery with the bar upstairs and the bands on stage downstairs. For a beer drinker like myself the bar is very disappointing - not that I was expecting much to be honest. Nothing on tap at all - bottles and cans on offer only, and not exactly cheap. A can of Strongbow was £3.50 and Guinness was £3.75, although to be fair many venues charge more than this. And you don't have to drink at all if you don't want to, although there is nowhere else closeby to sneak into for a crafty pint. The place is clean and modern - even the toilets are OK so apart from the poor selection at the bar (no Newcastle Brown or similar) there is nothing to discourage you from going back. I only bother with one drink - purely to quench my thirst rather than the pleasure of alcoholic beverage. I don't arrive in time to catch the first act of the four band bill - good value for money at £6 though. I can't remember the name of the band playing when I arrive, but they are a guitar/vox & drums punkish duo and are quite good. Next up is L.A.M.F. To most of my regular readers just the band's name will tell exactly what this band are like - yes, it's exactly what it says on the tin. I've seen a band of the same name a couple of times playing virtually the same set, but I don't recognise anyone from that band tonight so maybe they aren't related? However, as far as Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers tributes go this lot are pretty good. 'Johnny Thunders' himself is actually the best one I've seen apart from the real thing. The sound isn't that close even though they are using similar guitars - Marshall amps instead of Fender ones just don't sound right. The bass player actually does a far better job of being 'Billy Rath' as far as his playing goes than the real thing when I saw him play in London last year. This guy looks kind of familiar - in fact he looks suspiciously like Justin McConville from the current lineup of the Heavy Metal Kids. L.A.M.F. play for just under half an hour and do a good job, although I think their setlist could have been chosen better - there are more than enough good songs on the classic Heartbreakers 'L.A.M.F.' album to fill a half hour set. I can understand them throwing in a New York Dolls song as well as one of two Thunders solo ones, but the cover of 'C'mon Everybody' is a bit unneccessary. If you are going to throw in a cover why not 'Do You Love Me' as the Heartbreakers covered that so well? So, onto the headliners. Although Beki Bondage has for years been the only original member of the band Vice Squad are still doing a commendable job of 'keeping it real' and keeping the punk flame alive. The other original members of the band have long since given up on playing music, and sadly one of them is no longer alive - but Beki has never stopped making and performing music. Her uncompromising attitude has never made her rich or famous but she has stuck to her guns through thick and thin and is showing no signs of giving up anytime soon. And how does she still manage to look so good? If anything she looks better now than back in the day. Vice Squad continue to make new albums, and play gigs in the UK as well as many other countries. The music is still punk, and very uncompromising lyrically. The attitude is still there, but the current lineup is far more competent than the original band ever was - although they are having problems finding and keeping a regular drummer these days. However, the rest of the band is by far the best lineup of Vice Squad yet. This a a very tight and powerful live band with a strong back catalogue to pick from and plenty of good more recent songs as well - and unlike some other old punk bands who can be seen treading the boards these days, this is straight from the heart - Vice Squad still 'mean it'. The venue isn't packed this Thursday night in a little known venue, but Vice Squad have still managed to draw a reasonable crowd of hardcore fans - and a moshpit forms - hence the lack of any decent photos from me. Still, at least that means there is some atmosphere in the place and the band's fans are out to have a good time. And the band seem to be having a good time too. If anything, this lot are 'too good' to be a punk band, but if you've been playing and touring for as many years then you are going to get pretty good eventually - but they still have the attitude in spades. This is still a band who are doing this because they genuinely believe in what they are doing - and long may it continue.