Review: Goldblade live 26/3/10

John Robb

Tonight’s gig takes place at Liverpool’s The Masque - a great venue which tonight hosts an outstanding punk line up.

Punk was such an important emergence in music and the effects of its DIY ethos still resonates as strongly as ever. So tonight’s gig is set to be an exciting one...

To kick things off we have The Wasters, who have a bass player who understands the true meaning of a Mohawk and a guitarist who bears a striking similarity to Sid Vicious.

The Wasters are an exhilarating young punk band. Although, don’t be fooled by their youth as this band launches a full throttle assault on you the minute they take to the stage, thoroughly encompassing the spirit of Punk.

Next we have Zombina and the Skeletons, who are a band I’ve wanted to catch live ever since I was randomly handed a flyer for them in a club and thought ‘what a great name’.

So now I can finally tick that off the ‘to do’ list with mucho gusto. Zombina and the Skeletons add a little horror/Goth twist to their style of punk - taking to the stage with full skeletal face make up and fake blood.

Sultry singer Zombina impresses with an electrifying vocal. And her Skeletons are just as formidable with their hard and fast punk style.

Also, with lyrics such as ‘leave my brain alone’ and ‘I was a human bomb for the FBI’ this band demonstrate their ability to convey highly animated lyrics.

Taking to the stage next we have The Drellas who encompass their DIY ethos whole heartedly. The Drellas are responsible for the Anti-pop underground scene in Liverpool that holds a stable of great bands.

The Drellas also include Tommy Scott who you’ll remember from 90’s indie band Space. Now I say includes because even though Tommy is the main vocal every member of The Drellas is as important as the next. They all possess genuine talent and really create the essence of a band.

Declaring that they won’t start playing until everyone is down at the front, the audience needs no persuasion. It takes about ten seconds for everyone to descend mob like to the front of the stage.

The Drellas demonstrate quirky lyrics and are a aggressively enthralling live act. In a nutshell they sound like a heavy, experimental, synthesized, punk mash up.

Now for headline band Goldblade, front man John Robb was not content with already being in one great punk band, The Membranes, he then went onto form the critically acclaimed Goldblade in the mid –nineties.

The fact that Goldblade can count Morrissey as a fan gives one big seal of approval to this punk band with a rockabilly twist.

Goldblade are a dynamic band and encourage the audience to get on stage with them at any given opportunity.

The band give an exhilarating performance and considering that Robb is in his late forties he seriously could give men half his age a run for their money, with his bounding energy and a finely toned body- those hours in the gym have definitely paid off.

Goldblade scissor kick their way through a fast paced storming set. As if that wasn’t enough Liverpool legend Ian McNabb joined them on-stage for a few songs, which needless to say went down a treat.

With such classics as Jukebox Generation thrown into the mix Goldblade well and truly show us how it should be done.


check out the bands at

http://www.myspace.com/goldblade
http://www.myspace.com/thedrellas
http://www.myspace.com/zombinaandtheskeletones
http://www.myspace.com/thewastersmusic

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