Monocled Alchemist

Published in Sounds, 25th September 1982

Blitz | Gig Review | Klub Foot 1982 | TONIGHT STARTED like it meant business, but before the last orders bell had sounded it had hit the bankruptcy courts in a big way.

Opening act and rising stars One Way System set high standards. Fronted by a multi-tattooed demon who looked like Angry Anderson’s younger brother, this ferocious Fleetwood five-piece powered through a sinewy sea of hard and solid punk choons given added ooomph by their tough thick dual guitar sound.

Sure there were a couple of non-songs amid the muscle muesli, but gutter anthems like ‘Stab The Judge’, ‘Give Us A Future’ and ‘Jackie The Junkie’ made a lasting impression and throbbed with future potential.

As did the crafty old Test Tube Babies, always happy to go mid-way on the bill and steal the show. It’s far too soon after their front-page ‘exposure’ (you too could have a body like that — after a six month hunger strike) to comment on their ribald rave-ups again, but suffice it to say they’re the epitome of a punk good-time band and they never let you down.

I wish I could say the same about Blitz. In my opinion Blitz have penned street-punk anthems of such a high calibre that they stand head and shoulders above virtually every other contender in their field. And tonight they were shit.

Honestly, there is no nice way to put it, no way to alleviate the blow. They were terrible; lazy, big-headed and occasionally downright incompetent. Any spark the songs created was immediately smothered by the band’s arrogance and carelessness.

Blitz | Gig Review | Klub Foot 1982

Like the Business, who are currently acting like a bunch of two bob nonces, they seem to think they’re doing the world a favour by being there. Blitz had deigned to grace us with their presence (or more accurately they’d deigned to grace the film cameras with their presence) and we commoners should be overcome with gratitude.

Their whole performance was an insult. They haven’t even rehearsed for three months — and it showed. They muffed a couple of intros, turned fine songs into utter shambles, ruined ‘Nation On Fire’ totally. Seriously, not since UFO at Hammersmith have a good band played so badly.

Carl was pissed, as in out of his head. His idea of crowd repartee was a string of gratuitous insults. He and Nidge were acting like bloody superstars when they’ve only got two rungs up the ladder. Readers are invited to imagine what they’d act like if their songs were in the charts where they belong.

I left Klub Foot utterly depressed about the state of street punk. The bands I’d been pinning my hopes on seem to be disintegrating all around us. It’s true that no band is bigger than the movement, but without a vanguard to pave the way into the charts it’s going to get hopelessly lost again.

What I saw tonight was a tragic case of a band who’ve got everything going for them except themselves. Blitz have believed their own publicity. Because they know they’re good, they assume everybody will automatically accept them as great. They’ve forgotten that greatness demands commitment, not complacency.

Instead of the accolade they probably expected, I’m giving Blitz an ultimatum: wise up or your talent will be wasted and your career sold short! Send no flowers; they have been warned. (Garry Bushell)