SLAUGHTER & THE DOGS + THE DERELLAS + THE REMS – CON CLUB, LEWES 12.8.18
In my preview piece for this Slaughter & The Dogs concert way back in January, I stated:
“This will truly be quite an evening to remember for yours truly as I have as yet never managed to see these boys live before. They were one of the few that somehow got away. I suspect that the great and the good of the Sussex punk world will be in attendance for this rare event”.
I was totally spot on with this. It was indeed an evening to remember and yes the great and the good of the Sussex punk world were in attendance. But why was this the case?
Well, first off, Slaughter & The Dogs are one of the founding forefathers of the British punk rock movement, having founded in 1975. Their original line-up consisted of Wayne Barrett (vocals), Mick Rossi (guitar), Brian “Mad Muffet” Grantham (drums) and Howard “Zip” Bates (bass). A year later, the guys exploded onto the British music scene in 1976 at the now legendary Manchester Free Trade Hall gig with the Sex Pistols, an event which was to change musical history forever.
Secondly, they were the first band in Manchester to release an independent single ‘Cranked Up Really High’ in 1977. Q Magazine voted this landmark release as one of the ‘Top 50 Punk Singles Of All Time’.
Thirdly, Slaughter & The Dogs’ debut album ‘Do It Dog Style’ is now hailed as a classic, especially the album opener ‘Where Have All The Boot Boys Gone’.
And finally, Slaughter & The Dogs are true punk rock legends and remain to this day a force to be reckoned with. Their live shows are legendary and incendiary and so they continue to tour and headline major festivals around the world. The band’s influences can be felt near and far, from local Manchester boys – The Stone Roses to Johnny Marr and Oasis to name but three – to the American supergroup Green Day.
Bringing us right up to date, the first support band on the night at the Con Club in Lewes was The Rems who hail from Portsmouth. The trio are Steve Lympany (guitar/vocals), Steve Duffield (bass) and Pete Hutchinson (drums). They played nine rocky punk tunes and their setlist can be seen below.
More on The Rems here: https://www.facebook.com/TheRemsOfficial/
The second support band were The DeRellas, who are based in London. The members are Joey DeRella (vocals/rhythm guitar), Timmy DeRella (bass/backing vocals), Billy Chaos (drums) and Luca DeRella (lead guitar/backing vocals).
They performed ten songs, which were: ‘Got Something To Say’, ‘Strung Out Sin City’, the two Generation X sounding songs ‘She’s A Pistol’, and ‘Kids Wanna Slam’, the Sex Pistol-esque ‘Soho Hotel’, ‘Freak Show’, ‘Don’t Go’, ‘Rip It Up’, ‘High Rise Supersize’ and ‘Looking For You’.
The DeRellas could almost be described as a cartoon punk band, with the way they look and pose around the stage. Their sound is littered with familiar punk riffs, just as Sigue Sigue Sputnik used to. In fact at one stage, you could almost be excused in thinking that you were actually listening of their cover of The Ramones ‘Do You Remember Rock ‘N’ Roll Radio?’. Their current single ‘High Rise Supersize’ which was released in April, was for me the highlight of their set and so this is very encouraging indeed. There’s almost Oasis tendencies in there, but in the main if you are fans of glam punk such as Cleveland Ohio’s Dead Boys or Michigan’s finest sons The Stooges or New York City’s Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers or even the New York Dolls, then The DeRellas are for you!
More on The DeRellas here: https://www.derellas.com/
Now it was time for the big one……….Slaughter & The Dogs. Their current line-up boasts half of the original four, namely vocalist Wayne Barrett-McGrath and guitarist Mick Rossi. The newer members are bassist Dan Graziano and drummer Mark Reback.
I reckon that they performed 16 tracks in total including a trio in the encore. They were in the main old skool punk. Their set was tight and the only gap was for a spot of guitar tuning by singer Wayne.
The Lewes punters really went to town with this one and were bouncing around having fun. Things went into overdrive for their ‘Where Have All the Boot Boys Gone’ anthem just prior to their encore.
When the lads returned, they performed a decent version of the T Rex classic ‘Get It On (Bang A Gong)’, which incidentally can be found on the boys latest 12-track album entitled ‘Vicious’ released by Los Angeles based Cleopatra Records.
Then Wayne introduced none other than Tony James to the fold (on guitar) for the last two numbers. James is known for being a founding member of Generation X and also Sigue Sigue Sputnik. As a tribute to Generation X, the band played a fab version ‘Ready Steady Go’.
To finish with, the guys cranked it up really high and brought on UK Subs frontman, the lovable Charlie Harper on vocals. So that’s two of my idols on the stage at the exact same time! Classic! One of my mates actually cried tears of joy at the end of the gig. His bottom lip was trembling too. That can’t be topped really.
Slaughter & The Dogs didn’t have any setlists to photograph and so I reckon that their tracks were as follows, (but if anyone knows better, then please can they let me know, cheers):
‘Victims of the Vampire’, ‘We Don’t Care’, ‘You’re a Bore’, ‘Boston Babies’, ‘Stranded’, ‘Who Are the Mystery Girls?’ (New York Dolls cover), ‘Maybe if we followed the Devil’, ‘The Bitch’, ‘Quick Joey Small (Run Joey Run)’ (Kasenetz-Katz Super Circus cover), ‘I’m Mad’, ‘Dame to Blame’, ‘Situations’, ‘Where Have All the Boot Boys Gone’, (encore) ‘Get it on (Bang a Gong)’ (T Rex cover), ‘Ready Steady Go’ (with Tony James) (Generation X cover), ‘Cranked Up Really High’ (with Tony James & Charlie Harper).
More info on Slaughter & The Dogs here: http://www.satd.band/
