Shocks of Mighty!
Pelton
Arms, Greenwich, London - 20 August 2022
The
best fucking punk band in London
OK;
no fucking about, I'm just going to say it: Shocks of Mighty! are
the best fucking punk band in London.
What a
brilliant set. They've been practising solidly and it shows.
Fantastically tight, effortlessly intense, great 'crash' endings,
there is absolutely no fat in their sound at all.
Overcoming the
sort of sound issues that would have most bands (well, me at any
rate) throwing a strop and sulking for the rest of the performance,
they smashed through their set with grace and good humour, and they
were on fucking FIRE. The sound is early Clash/Jam mostly, but
there's also bits of Buzzcocks, Dexy's and Ramones in there. In
fact, if you can imagine Weller playing guitar with Da Brudders
instead of Johnny you'll get some idea of Steve Brown's
simple/complex guitar style.
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High
points: Opener Not Pretty just carrying everything before
it, an actual unstoppable force: "If you want it/ Come and get
it/ But you'll regret it"; Brown breaking up the syllables of
"the ex-ecu-tive floor" on Change You Want To See;
the snarled frustration of Pressure building to the vicious
crescendo of "I see your swastika/ I'll kick your fucking teeth
in".
Despite
starting late, an encore was demanded by the psyched-up crowd (and
significantly, members of the headline band, whose playing time was
being cut into). They finished with a cover of Bob Marley's Iron
Lion Zion and left the stage to thunderous applause.
You
owe it to yourself to go and see them at the earliest
opportunity. 10/10