I.C.H/Bastard Squads/The Pins/Moral Dilemma
16/03/07 Cellar bar 8, Cambridge

2:24 am. I still hear a buzzing sound because of the gig The Last Gang in Town put on at the Cellar Bar 8 in Cambridge. To be honest, I’m still on my ass and it’s hard to recover from such a good gig.

The first band which played was a one-man-band. The singer from the locally famous I.C.H came alone with his acoustic guitar to play the I.C.H’s songs. This acoustic performance was a good introduction, with a guy singing and playing a bit like Swingin’ Utters when they play acoustic guitars in their songs (“Shadows and Lies”, “Fruitless Fortunes”,…).

Then came the “infamous” (as the singer from Moral Dilemma said) Bastard Squads with their early hardcore sound and their eternal cheesy jokes (Splodge had a three-headed baby!). They were as good as they were the first time I had seen them (see the 22/02/07 A.S.B.O/The Listed/Danger’s Close/Bastard Squad review), maybe a bit more square in the way they played. And from now on, it was just a huge link of slaps coming straight into my face and my ears.

The Pins were incredibly good with their perfect set. They tend to sound like Career Suicide but with longer songs and a very grown-up punk/hardcore music. They have a great sense of melody, though the tempos are very fast. The songs are well-structured with some introductions, some interludes and powerful choruses. The singer could become the new Matt Caughthran (singer for The Bronx). He is definitely a natural-born-front-man who masters perfectly his voice though he sings very different things (from tasty clean pop/punk to dirtily distorted punk/hardcore). The drummer was also incredibly good, adding a lot thanks to all his breaks and techniques which make the songs sound even more interesting. They have 3 songs you can download (www.myspace.com/the pins) and you really should listen to them yourself. These recordings do not bring the same craze the live songs did, but still they are awfully exquisite.

The last band to play this night was another band from London called Moral Dilemma. This 3 piece band finished me off with their heavily distorted, straight-forward and fast punk/hardcore. If you were crying because The Distillers had split, download their songs (www.myspace.com/moraldilemmalondon) and come to their gig at the Underworld in Camden Town (London) on the 24th of March. Their songs are raw, violent, with committed lyrics and great structures too. The backing vocals by Chloe, the bass player, gives a good melodic back up to Craig’s furious shouts. And here again, the drumming was amazingly rich and diversified. To situate them more, they’re close to The Unseen, The Distillers, Black Radio (a band from Essex you should listen to) and Social Distortion (because of the rock’n’roll solos and the cowboy-style harmonica on “Bastard Sons”).

The bands which played tonight are bands like we’d want to see more often. Indeed, good punk/hardcore with just enough of fury and melody are hard to find nowadays with the fashionable emo/metalcore/death metal wave which tells the band they have to be extreme. The Pins and Moral Dilemma are the kind of bands they should put in Kerrang! instead of the insipid Lost Prophets or the stupidly boring +44. If you think “Punk’s Dead” or “Punk rock is just about unskilled crappy bands without any musical taste”, come to see them and you’ll have the proof you are wrong.

Thomas Budzynski Music-Zine

I.C.H, H8ball, Deadline
26/05/2006 Man On The Moon, Cambridge

It started on the 26th of May with ICH and Deadline playing the Man on the Moon. I'm not very knowledgeable about punk but I know that it was a great night because I walked out sweaty and smiling.

The more I listen to ICH the more I like them. They always play a passionate set that belies the tongue-in-cheek lyrics their singer sources from the scrapbook of ideas he keeps in his bag.
They are getting better known and playing more gigs and each time they take it a little more in their stride and play a better set than the last; this gig was no exception and was by far the best I have seen them play (Mulluk, May 27th, 2006. Deadline, H8ball, ICH reviewed).
The crowd was perfect, youngish but not the usual adolescents found in the venue and they were all well up for a party. Rather than being bemused by this, the usually shy Ed took the stage by storm and the band played a fabulous set getting a fantastic response of la-la-las from the audience when requested towards the close - not, however, before an unruly kid with a typical Mohawk-and-leather-jacket get-up nearly knocked Ed's teeth out as he moshed his way into the microphone.

After a band called H8ball, which I sadly missed as I was busy chasing a beautiful mullet around the pub with a camera, came Deadline.
An up-and-coming punk band that sing a nice mixture of their own work and Blondie covers. Nothing too extreme and very palatable from my point of view, not being the world's greatest punk fan or even pulling in a close 1500th.
The singer was extremely captivating with excellent showwomanship, a high regard for her audience and an excellent voice. I found myself dancing along before not too long as I endeavoured to stay out of the way of the moshpit, fearing for my little feet that had earlier taken quite a trampling.

I left the venue that night extremely happy and feeling the pittance that I had spent to get in was a pittance indeed! An excellent gig and a turning point in my views of Punk Rock (I would never have been so sceptical in the first place if liars hadn't tried to tell me that Green Day were punk!)

Review by Oscarina

I.C.H, H8ball, Deadline
26/05/2006 Man On The Moon, Cambridge

Arriving at the Moon at 8ish and already you can tell its going to be a good night just from the sheer turnout. A good number of scruffy chaps and eyelinered ladies have pressed their way into the back room, one of the better turn outs for a Last Gang night Ive seen. I think Alec and Laura should be proud their hard-work is getting the recognition it deserves.

ICH are up first and they seem completely at home from start to finish. This is exactly the kind of gig the guys need as its getting them showcased to new people as well as their increasing fanbase; it feels like every time they play they get a bigger and better response. The set itself is well controlled without feeling too strict, and the slightly more at ease feel to the band is really beneficial to them playing a hugely entertaining set without losing any of the balls that makes their music so worth listening to. ICH really took the whole night in their stride, and like their recent performance with The Positives they threatened to be show-stealers from the word go.

So many wanky AFI-alikes get the label of the new misfits, so its really refreshing to see a band like H8ball who genuinely have taken on the good qualities that make the Misfits a classic band: the showmanship and the style of songwriting, without pigeonholing themselves. The thing that makes H8balls records effective live is the simplicity and straight rock and roll feel to the songs they blast out. The movement onstage is matched by the movement in the crowd, and it takes no time for H8ball to gain some new fans as they rip through a tight set.

Deadline dont have to worry about gaining new fans as the tops come off and the skins move forward for a closely-contested most energetic set of the night. Liz holds the crowd in the palm of her hand, the blistering covers and anthemic qualities of their own songs are not lost on anyone in attendance, from the start of the set to the finish the place went bananas. Its really good to see Cambridge pulling off the whole punk unity thing and really just throwing down, and Deadline gave them the kind of electric set that made it impossible not to.

So all in all a really hot night from all concerned, and Ed from ICH even gave me a heap of Carter USM, Smash and Sage Francis CDs in return for not letting slip about his inner thigh tattoos of Emmylou Harris.Crivens, the cats out of the bag!

Cheers to Mulluk for the review

Guns on the Roof, I.C.H, and The Outbreaks
17/09/2005 Man On The Moon, Cambridge

The bands all share a few things tonight, they're all punk rockers, they're all talented guys, and they're all frustrated with the Cambrdige crowd. Cambridge crowds are rarely the most vocal, a lot of them can't even clap properly - their hands are crippled from twiddling their iPods, but each band tonight is clearly doing the utmost to get through to them.

The Outbreaks play a clear and concise set, and what they lack in the wall-of-sound they make up for in downright cool song writing and terrace-chant choruses. People who have never seen or heard the band before are nodding and smiling at the lyrics, and shouting along with tracks like 'Die in Debt'

I.C.H are up next, and after dismissing the immobile crowds as 'Cunts' move into another blistering set. One of the key factors of I.C.H's performance, and something they hold over The Outbreaks is that every second they're on stage they look like they're having fun. If something goes wrong in a track, they're laughing about it, if a string breaks the rest of the band treat us to an impromptu version of 'Do You Love Me?'. When everything goes right (Which it often does) the whole band begin the between-track chatter with a somewhat surprised air of success. Tonights gig is sloppy in places, but covered up so you wouldn't know if you weren't in the band, and the set itself is indicative of all the things that are right about punk. The Exploited told us punk wasn't dead, bands like I.C.H are showing us

Headlining the night is northern outfit Guns on the Roof. Like I.C.H they also put on a hell of a show to keep punk rock elite. Unlike I.C.H they certainly look the part, declining dreadlocks and Carter U.S.M t-shirts in favour of coloured hair, Doc Martens and tartan. Clearly the youngest band on the bill, they play as an exact opposite of The Outbreaks, what they lack in a clear and concise track, the more than make up for in terms of a wall of sound and a fanatical enthusiasm. their set seems to be over really quickly, a good sign indeed, as the 40 or 50 minutes they're on stage pass all to soon.The set had a rawkus feel to it, with the frontman using I.C.H's freads as baby reigns to force people to the front. One way of dealing with it...

Review written by Alex Paige

The Clampdown Fanzine
Goldblade & The Grit
09/10/04 Man On The Moon, Cambridge

Silk: On the outset, a less than average night at The Man On The Moon. This is what I hate about arriving early at gigs...actually this is what I hate about Winter. Actually, this is what I hate about being broke! It's too cold to be sitting outside, and sitting in the pub with just enough money to play "Police and Thieves" on the jukebox is naff. That's why, when I went over to the stage I was pleased to see a double bass with leopard print trimmings - possibly one of the sexiest instruments ever - set out for the first band.

Holly: The true sexiness of the instrument isn't realized until it is played. Oh. Holy. Jesus. The Grit came on (to no applause) and started up. Instantly our eyes widened and we developed Joe Strummer-esque electric legs. They are so tight with each other, the guitarist at one point on his knees, strumming so fast his arm and hand are literally one big blur, his psychobilly hairstyle and Cramps t-shirt making him the epitome of punk rock cool. The singer's voice is almost too good, dammit, it's all almost too good.

Silk: Through the first few songs, the room started filling up, and I became thankful that we arrived so early. People all around started to realize that we were about to witness something very special. This mix of funk, punk and reggae breaks - sometimes within the same song - gives The Grit the variation of The Clash whilst they still retain their own very individual sound rooted firmly in old school punk. Like Holly said, they were incredibly tight and played like a stadium band. Rolling bass lines reminiscent of "Let's Go" & "And Out Come The Wolves" era Rancid slot in perfectly with the characteristically tinny sound of the guitars. Lead and rhythm throwing alternate punches so fast that people trying to skank were barely touching the floor. It's so unusual to be blown away by the first band, especially at the Moon - notorious for it's less than perfect sound, but this band actually elated me to the point I refused to leave the room to relieve myself until they had finished.

Holly: It's a shame that the majority of the people turned up after The Grit had finished. I went and tapped the bassist on the shoulder and told him how awesome he was. I was so speechless that I just said that and left, after slyly stealing a setlist from the stage.

Silk: When Goldblade - the headliners - came on, I felt nothing could top the pogoing wonders we'd just seen. It followed that Goldblade, an otherwise great punk band, were completely upstaged by The Grit. However, their crowd interaction more than made up for what they lacked musically. Saying this, they really do have a defining strut - fast and loud punk rock goodness.

Holly: Silky, calm down. You were in the toilet. Goldblade were reminiscent of old Misfits, with their chant-a-long choruses and lively frontman. The guitarist meanwhile, was enough to scare little children far away. His eyes flashing and squinting, piercing the retinas of every person he made eye contact with. The gig ended with the frontman shaking hands with practically every person there and showering us with compliments. Fine by us.

Holly Keirnan and Silk Vella

Now come back to Cambridge! You guys are the liveliest, most original and most enjoyable band we've seen around these parts for ages, and we need you :-) Hell, the world needs you, I don't know why you're not huge already.

DJ Les, I.C.H and The Grit
19/03/05 Man On The Moon, Cambridge

After The Grit's last explosive set at the Moon, Cambridge has been left in suspense, awaiting their return. On the night of said return, when that double bass came out to play, a collective orgasm went through the crowd as The Grit took to the stage and broke into the first song. London/Newcastle punk-psychobilly-ska-whatever the hell you want to call it with some special sounds to give, a highlight being the audience invited onstage and skanking their arses off with the rest of the room. The enjoyment of the audience only fuels that of the band themselves.

You can tell that they love playing their instruments together as much as we do listening to them. We all may have come out of the womb angry cunts, but tonight there's not an angry cunt in sight.