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| Photo by Captain Metal Photography |
FUCK EVERYTHING THAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW ABOUT
Trust me, I was in that camp once. That first time I saw four men swinging their barely-intact guitars around like over-enthusiastic Belarusian olympic hammer-throwers, screaming blue murder into their microphones and hanging off pretty much anything that could hold their weight; whether it was the many staircases at Bristol's o2 Academy (where I first saw them opening for The Wildhearts back in 2013), or the several oblivious audience members that bothered turning up early for their set.
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| Photo by Captain Metal Photography |
Well, you know what? HECK (formally Baby Godzilla) have those anthems now. They've probably had them stashed away all along (I'd argue that 'Powerboat Disaster' remains one of their biggest and best tracks) but nobody's given them the time of day apart from wazzing off about how mental they are live. They've been through the ringer with being derided as a farce, and they've come out the other end with a handful of fucking furious, riff-heavy bangers. I can't help but doff my metaphorical cap to HECK for dealing with it in the way that they have.
Before you even read this review, go and listen to their debut album, INSTRUCTIONS, and I dare you to say after listening to it that they don't have songs, especially after the three-part 16-minute epic at the end of the record, 'I: See The Old Lady Decently / II: Buried Although / III: Amongst Those Left Are You' *and breathe*...
If you think that HECK's insurance providers have a bit of a field day dealing with their responsibilities, try being the band that opens for them. Luckily, RAKETKANON face the challenge with enough batshit enthusiasm to make HECK look like a fucking skiffle band.
What's even more respectable about these Belgian nutcases and their display of grimy, pulsing noise is the fact that they do it without perhaps their most crucial member: lead singer Pieter-Paul Devos is allegedly fighting illness during their set (although guitarist Jef Verbeeck tries to pin his absence on "not being able to snort cocaine on stage in the UK"), but HECK guitarist Jonny Hall is on hand to fill the void.
Not that there is actually much of a void to be filled, what with keyboardist Lode Vlaeminck headbutting his keyboard and drummer Pieter de Wilde spending more time in the middle of the crowd than behind his kit. Somehow, they still manage to harness those chaotic energies into churning out often-industrial, always-intense art-rock.
You think you may know the score with a HECK show, but you'd be an idiot to disregard just how unpredictable this band can be. Sure, they'll be dangling from the rafters and death-staring audience members with a slight pathological intensity (this does happen on numerous occasions tonight), but the order in which they'll be pulling these mad tricks out of the bag seems a mystery to the band themselves.
Just because HECK have started to finally channel some energy into crafting massive hooks and stomping rock n' roll choruses on Instructions, they're far from losing that momentum that thrives in dingy atmospheres like the one at The Joiners. The room may be half-full, but that might be for the best considering the amount of space cleared by the loose cannon of a frontman that is Matt Reynolds. With the same anarchic chemistry of Omar and Cedric from At The Drive-In, or Sid and Clown from Slipknot, Reynolds and Hall quite literally bounce off the walls... and the stage... and the amps... and the crowd.
Even in amongst the discordance and pandemonium of this feedback-drenched evening, the technical brilliance of HECK's rhythm section is never down-played. Paul Shelley hammers the shit of his bass, gurning like a bulldog chewing a wasp in the process (a hard-as-fuck bulldog at that), while drummer Tom Marsh reaches his enraged peak by nearly punching a hole in his toms. If it weren't for the choppy time signatures that they miraculously uphold, tracks like 'Good As Dead' and 'A Great Idea Bastardised' wouldn't be nearly as chaotic or captivating.
By the time 'Powerboat Disaster' swaggers in, Reynolds has surrendered his mic almost entirely to the crowd who are (myself included) more than willing to join in for the hearty yo-ho-ing that carries on long after the song crashes to a halt. It's glorious moments like this where you're actually grateful that HECK didn't stick around in the Academy-sized venues, in the same way you'd rather see Trash Talk at The Fighting Cocks in Kingston, or letlive. at The Old Blue Last in London.
Where's the fun in not fearing for your life anyway? One misstep at this show and I could've ended up being strangled with a mic lead, or had a guitar head slammed into my temple, or being flattened by a flying monitor.
Big thanks to Captain Metal Photography for letting me use some of his shots. You can check out more of his stuff over on his Facebook page. You can also check out some wicked footage from the show below, courtesy of the kid who stuck his GoPro on one of the amps. You can probably see me at some point trying to lob a mic stand at someone.
Before you even read this review, go and listen to their debut album, INSTRUCTIONS, and I dare you to say after listening to it that they don't have songs, especially after the three-part 16-minute epic at the end of the record, 'I: See The Old Lady Decently / II: Buried Although / III: Amongst Those Left Are You' *and breathe*...
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| A really good photo of RAKETKANON by yours truly (Definitely not taken on an iPhone) |
If you think that HECK's insurance providers have a bit of a field day dealing with their responsibilities, try being the band that opens for them. Luckily, RAKETKANON face the challenge with enough batshit enthusiasm to make HECK look like a fucking skiffle band.
What's even more respectable about these Belgian nutcases and their display of grimy, pulsing noise is the fact that they do it without perhaps their most crucial member: lead singer Pieter-Paul Devos is allegedly fighting illness during their set (although guitarist Jef Verbeeck tries to pin his absence on "not being able to snort cocaine on stage in the UK"), but HECK guitarist Jonny Hall is on hand to fill the void.
Not that there is actually much of a void to be filled, what with keyboardist Lode Vlaeminck headbutting his keyboard and drummer Pieter de Wilde spending more time in the middle of the crowd than behind his kit. Somehow, they still manage to harness those chaotic energies into churning out often-industrial, always-intense art-rock.
 |
| Photo by Captain Metal Photography |
You think you may know the score with a HECK show, but you'd be an idiot to disregard just how unpredictable this band can be. Sure, they'll be dangling from the rafters and death-staring audience members with a slight pathological intensity (this does happen on numerous occasions tonight), but the order in which they'll be pulling these mad tricks out of the bag seems a mystery to the band themselves.
Just because HECK have started to finally channel some energy into crafting massive hooks and stomping rock n' roll choruses on Instructions, they're far from losing that momentum that thrives in dingy atmospheres like the one at The Joiners. The room may be half-full, but that might be for the best considering the amount of space cleared by the loose cannon of a frontman that is Matt Reynolds. With the same anarchic chemistry of Omar and Cedric from At The Drive-In, or Sid and Clown from Slipknot, Reynolds and Hall quite literally bounce off the walls... and the stage... and the amps... and the crowd.
 |
| Photo by Captain Metal Photography |
By the time 'Powerboat Disaster' swaggers in, Reynolds has surrendered his mic almost entirely to the crowd who are (myself included) more than willing to join in for the hearty yo-ho-ing that carries on long after the song crashes to a halt. It's glorious moments like this where you're actually grateful that HECK didn't stick around in the Academy-sized venues, in the same way you'd rather see Trash Talk at The Fighting Cocks in Kingston, or letlive. at The Old Blue Last in London.
Where's the fun in not fearing for your life anyway? One misstep at this show and I could've ended up being strangled with a mic lead, or had a guitar head slammed into my temple, or being flattened by a flying monitor.
Would I have it any other way at a HECK show?
HECK NO.
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| Photos by Captain Metal Photography |
Big thanks to Captain Metal Photography for letting me use some of his shots. You can check out more of his stuff over on his Facebook page. You can also check out some wicked footage from the show below, courtesy of the kid who stuck his GoPro on one of the amps. You can probably see me at some point trying to lob a mic stand at someone.
Yo-ho, yo-ho...
Danny
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