The twenty ninth BOBI caper had a bit of an anarchic theme with two Punk bands from either end of the noise spectrum to come, but first up was one of those artists that BOBI like to unearth to entertain and confuse in equal measures. VULGARITHM arrived in the form of a mysterious masked fellow bedecked out in a lab coat and mirror ball mask combo brandishing a guitar, all manner of electrickery and a pair of screens blasting out collages of chaos. Playing guitar that had something of a Metal feel to backing tracks more rooted in 90s night clubs, alongside soaring vocals that wouldn’t be outta place on a Linkin Park record, it was quite the multimedia overload. Industrial-Techno-nu Metal-Cyber Punk … I believe that Riff Rave is the genre that Vulgarithm identify themselves as, which is as good a description as you’ll get I reckon.
Following such a spectacle was never gonna be easy, but Norwich trio MINISTRY OF TRUTH were well up for the task with a blistering set of tough old boots UK82 style Punk Rock. Not to mention a glitterball cap … something of a theme developing here. Blasting through the tracks from their ace demo CD and more, M.O.T. weren’t hanging about and had Punks of a certain vintage remembering those wild nights watching the annual UK Subs at the Axe and Cleaver gigs in the depths of winter back in the days of yore. Chuck in a great big slab of The Exploited’s hard metallic edge with GBH’s pogo Punk pandemonium and it was a fine set from a band coming to the close of a UK tour.
Further Punk Rock shenanigans were up next with the final band of an impressive bill, as SHOTGUN MARMALADE – the Stourbridge Clash as someone once said – had crossed the Midlands from west to east, to get the BOBI lot on their feet and dancing. Tune heavy Clash inspired Punk Rock, maybe less spikey than Strummer and co, Shotgun Marmalade are clearly in thrall to the “only band that matters” but instead, add their own upbeat Ska infused ideas (not unlike out good mates Suburban Toys) and at times even lean in to Ferocious Dog like folksy troubadour action. Plenty of lively tuneage and plenty of catchy chorus action going down, Shotgun Marmalade put in a right shift chock full of tuneful fists in the air, Oi Oi, two fingers up, Punk bloody Rock! A fine way to top off a Punky night at Blackfriars with BOBI which sees the summer run at Blackfriars come to an end for now. Back to our Autumn/Winter habitat for the next few gigs at Black Sluice Cottages where the original music continues on Halloween night.
[Photos by BOBI resident photographer Graham Campling.]
[Review by Marv Gadgie (Gadgie Zine)]
