Spizzenergi take Brighton by storm

SPIZZENERGI + THE WITCHDOKTORS – PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 27.4.18

It seems like eons since this gig was announced and now finally myself, my mates and the lucky crew from the Starship Spizz get to witness an evening of fine entertainment.

I was fortunate to catch Spizz (real name Kenneth Spiers) and his eclectic Sputnik-esque crew (Luca Comencini – guitar, Ben Lawson – bass, Phil Ross – guitar and Jeff Walker – drums) at the Undercover Festival at Brighton Racecourse a couple of years ago, and they were most entertaining indeed. So I was rather hoping for more of the same tonight at the Prince Albert.

The evening started well with an engaging set from The WitchDoktors. The south London band are Planet Andy (guitar and vocals), Big T (guitar), Zig C (bass) and Mr Colfar (drums) and they had quite an entourage of fans with them this evening.

Their first track ‘Movie Star’ is quite rockabilly as was their final track ‘Common Prayer (For A Working Man)’ which singer Andy joined Mr Colfar on a ‘Ballroom Blitz’ style drumming escapade. Although in general their sound is more 70’s r’n’b punk along the lines of Dr Feelgood with some Clash and Damned elements mixed up with some raw sounding Kinks vibe.

My fave track of theirs was the penultimate tune ‘Neck Tattoo’. Andy is quite an engaging character and I can see how he can hold the crowd, just like main act man Spizz is able to do. Which leads me nicely onto Spizz’s set, but first here’s The WitchDokors setlist: ‘Movie Star’, ‘Tie Me Up In Chains’, ‘No Pain No Gain’, ‘Jack Hammer’, ‘I’m Sick’, ‘Big Black Sack’/’Guns Of Brixton (The Clash cover), ‘7 Days & 7 Nights’, ‘Voodoo Eye’, ‘New Set Of Wheels’, ‘Knock Me Back’, ‘Told You To Go’, ‘Neck Tattoo’, ‘Common Prayer (For A Working Man)’.

Find out more about the band here: https://www.facebook.com/witchdoktors/

Headlining act, Spizzenergi, this evening did not fail to deliver whatsoever! It was a masterclass of rock ‘n’ roll pomp and energi that few acts would be able to match.

Spizz himself is exactly what the music industry needs – a real eccentric but lovable character! There’s just something very British about Spizz’s psyche. Battling on in his own inimitable style and not taking a blind bit of notice what anyone else thinks. His amount of eccentricity within our British society overall is equally balanced in proportional with his vast courage, his mental vigour and his genius. I can’t understand why he isn’t based in bohemian Brighton, where he would no doubt reside within a folly or something similar.

Some have questioned the sanity of this vertically challenged mega-star, but no, they would be wrong, as I have always seen it as his relentless drive! My friend Bazza has known him for decades and he told me that he is one of the very nicest people you will ever meet!

Back in the day, Spizz would change the band name each year and I can recall a conversation with my mate Guy (who sadly was in Ireland during tonight’s gig) around the tail end of 1980, whereby we were trying to hazard a guess at next year’s Spizz name! It was fun, but alas the Guinness Book of Records failed to recognise Spizz’s claim that he has recorded and released the greatest number of recordings under different names. We’ve had: SPIZZ’77, SPIZZOIL, SPIZZENERGI, ATHLETICO SPIZZ 80, SPIZZLES, SPIZZOLOGY and SPIZZITALIA!

I still have my treasured 7″ singles of the legendary ‘Where’s Captain Kirk?’ (released December 1979) and follow up ‘No Room’ (released in June 1980). I have no idea why I didn’t purchase the excellent ‘Soldier Soldier’ at the time too? My loss.

Both ‘Soldier Soldier’ and ‘Where’s Captain Kirk?’ received critical acclaim – ‘Soldier Soldier’ was named Single of The Week by the NME and not to be outdone ‘Where’s Captain Kirk?’ was named Single of The Week by the Melody Maker. ‘Soldier Soldier’ was championed at the time by Paul Weller and Frank Zappa. ‘Where’s Captain Kirk?’ has been recorded by a number of artists, most notably R.E.M and Space, Oasis, Pulp and Green Day have acknowledged the influence of the band.

Tonight, the Prince Albert punters were treated to a seventeen song set that was mainly made up of original material as well as four cover versions. These cover versions are performed in homage to other acts that Spizz has found inspirational down the years.

The first cover was ‘Valentine’s Day’ taken from the 2013 David Bowie album ‘The Next Day’. This is far from an obvious choice of Bowie track to cover. One might have thought something like ‘Rebel Rebel’ would more sum up Spizz. The second cover was ‘The Model’ by legendary German synth pioneers Kraftwerk. Although this version is vastly different in instruments used to the original composition. I could see Spizz having a go with ‘The Robot’s’ by Kraftwerk and Spizz jerking around the stage. The third cover was Roxy Music’s classic ‘Virginia Plain’ with its Brian Eno keyboard work. My fave Roxy track so great choice my good man. The final cover was ‘I Fought The Law’ which was originally penned by The Crickets, however we all know The Clash version.

Spizz is such a likeable fellow and this shines through all the way through tonights set. He really tries to entertain the crowd. He’s got his Spizz goggles, that were possibly a precursor to the Orbital ones, he’s got his Spizz light rings that he throws into the crowd – yep I grabbed a red one! We even had Spizz confetti this evening too.

Thankfully we were served with all my fave Spizz songs – ‘Spock’s Missing’, ‘No Room’, ‘Soldier Soldier’, ‘Amnesia’ and best of all ‘Where’s Captain Kirk?’.

Tonight’s Spizzenergi 17 track setlist was: ‘6000 Crazy’, ‘Mega City 3’, ‘Amnesia’, ‘No Room’, ‘European Heroes’, ‘Red & Black’, ‘Soldier Soldier’, ‘Valentine’s Day’ (David Bowie cover), ‘Central Park’, ‘City Of Eyes’, ‘Here Come The Machines’, ‘The Model’ (Kraftwerk cover), ‘Clocks Are Big’, ‘Where’s Captain Kirk?’, (encore 1) ‘Virginia Plain’ (Roxy Music cover), ‘Spock’s Missing’ (encore 2) ‘I Fought The Law’ (The Crickets cover).

Right then Spizz, when are you coming back to Brighton to play or live?

For more delights from Spizzenergi, visit here: http://www.spizzenergi.com/ and here https://www.facebook.com/spizz.energi