Them Crooked Vultures
*****
CD 88697 61936 2
Sony Music
www.themcrookedvultures.com
www.rcarecords.com 

Slightly preachy
Really sleazy
Slipping in the guts
Of those metaphors

It's fab, mad and bad
And Bolanesque in 'Reptiles'

A slap of rockabilly in 'Warsaw or...'
70's musicals
And the speaky easy
It's rock and raw

Breadth and bravery
A mix-up of expectation
Understated stadium anthems
If you know what I mean

Hipslinging thrash 80's club (before the raves)
'Gunman' banging on the door
All the way there and back again

New fury, no jury
It's fab, mad and bad
Slightly preachy
Really sleazy
It's rock and raw

Try these vulture tracks:
~ New Fang ~ Reptiles ~ Warsaw or the First Breath You Take After You Give Up ~ Gunman

999
at The Forum, Tunbridge Wells

(review by Dr. B)

Somehow 'I'm going to see a 999 gig tonight' doesn't cut it in trendy social circles in the same way it once did. The venue, being 'The Forum' in Tunbridge Wells (a converted public toilet), doesn't add to the wow factor either. It's not a big venue and that it wasn't even close to capacity on the night was another nail in the social coffin. But despite all the minus trendy points it still worked for me and my nostalgia, I just needed to look past the advancing years and waistline of Nick Cash, convincing myself the shaven-headed look is a choice rather than a lack of functioning follicles. And, once I'd done that, all the old favourites of' 'Feelin' Alright With the Crew', 'Homicide' and 'Emergency' take me back and I can tick off another of the bands from the classic few years in the late 70's that I never actually got to see. An odd occupation when viewed by anyone other than those of a certain age but hugely important for piece of mind and confirmation that I was there when punk and new wave changed music for ever.

The audience ranged from late teens on a night out, willing to see any band who toured Tunbridge Wells to original 50-something fans. Inevitably there were half a dozen or so punks pogo-ing for all they were worth at the front but most of us were too old to risk a slipped disk in this way. I'm annoyed to have to admit that the support band, Zombie Met Girl, were in truth better than 999, having genuine raw power and a clear desire to be the Ramones, proving so by covering a Ramones track I now can't remember due to my advancing years and scrambled brains after all that loud music!

Check websites for next 999 and Zombie Met Girl gigs:
http://www.myspace.com/999space
http://zombiemetgirl.com