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Live at The Purple Turtle, Camden, London 11/1/09
Like a scene from the titles of an old ‘Never Mind the Buzzcocks’ episode, the Purple Turtle in Camden was the punk setting for a crowd about to
learn the meaning of Monkish.
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Note: WMV file, Windows Media Player required to view (88MB)
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A self-proclaimed comedy punk-rock band, Monkish mix the Johnny Rotten-esque
vocals of songwriter and only surviving founder, Brad Frugal with catchy guitar
beats.
The tongue is most-firmly in cheek as the band rip into opener, ‘Shallow Bitch’, a powerful anthem incorporating unforgiving riffs with devilish bass-lines.
Frugal, clad in an outfit that could possibly have been stolen from the set of
UK dad-romp
‘Minder’ then gestures to his right to introduce the multi-talented Snelgers O’Guinness.
Snelgers enters the fray from the top of the stage stairs playing a flute solo
before joining the party, thankfully not dressed as risqu
é as he has become accustomed to.
It’s not long before the band have launched into one of their most infectious
numbers as
‘ASBO’ rings out around the intimate venue. An exuberating electric guitar riff laces
predominantly around the tune, backed up faithfully by Frugal
’s witty lyrics. Though the sound team may have had better nights, it’s an appreciative crowd that view the always-eventful Monkish show.
The robust O’Guinness puts down his dancing shoes for both ‘D-List Celebrity Stalker’ and new song, ‘P45’ (a true story about
someone deliberately trying to get sacked) to play rhythm guitar, in the absence
of regular, Pob Cavity at the gig. Though the group have been through no less
than 6 other band members in their short three-year lifespan, the chemistry
between Snelgers and Frugal is the undying heartbeat of Monkish. Thus resulting
in various unpredictable stage escapades, none less so than on
‘Back on the Snag’ as the “cocaine box” prop comes into play.
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The song, about drug addiction of course, plays in as Snelgers covers himself in
the contents of the box before leaping energetically off stage showing the
“effects” of it. And this is quite what the fun of seeing the band are – unpredictable stage shows (Including a moon or two from the lead man), vibrant
performances and most importantly, some seriously infectious tunes.
Kind of like if System of a Down had taken a comedy route into stardom, mixed
with some good old-fashioned 70s punk attitude.
The band also played ‘Essex Pub Orgy’ and ‘Silly Cunt’ before entering into another particularly crowd-pleasing rendition of closing
track,
‘Microwave’. The toe-tapping beat keeping the presumably flour-filled dance-floor heaving
towards the end of a relatively-short 45 minute set, resulting in the
“cocaine box” hitting the sound man. All culminating in just another crazy night of
old-fashioned rock n
’ roll capers done the Monkish way.
8/10 CM
(c) ChrisOnline.biz 2008
