– CLUB ACADEMY, MANCHESTER –
An 80’s Matchbox B- Line Disaster gig is like cuing for a ride at a theme park. You wait ages and then you’re rewarded with a forty second or in this case, forty minute thrill. As is their want, 80MBD (sorry abbreviations necessary) like to wait for as long as possible before taking to the stage so that the crowd are like caged animals ready to be released! And when they are there is a cacophony of hairspray and tattoos in the most quickly assembled mosh pit, I have ever seen. Guy McKnight the lead singer begins singing ‘Psychosis Safari’ in his typical deep voice and executes the perfect crowd surf: it is a thing of beauty as the crowd are so willing to carry him they even help keep the microphone plugged in.
Back together after a four year hiatus 80MBD announce a tour, not a comeback tour as they have released no new material since 2010. This is simply a re- visit to past glories, sniffing around the carcass of their rock n roll feast. Touring without any new material is a good sign that they don’t take themselves too seriously. A pet hate of mine is a band that only play material from their new album and have little desire to please the crowd. The reason you are there is to please the crowd, these are the people that buy your music and come out in the rain to watch you play! So it is heartening that they have gone back on the road for the sheer thrill of playing live and not to promote a new album. Obviously money plays a part but I’ll pretend that’s not true.
The last time I saw 80MBD was in London ten years ago and even then their status as a live band was legendary and I still have the image of a sweaty, bare chested Guy McKnight imprinted on my memory. I have no idea why, of course and it seems there are other ladies of the Goth/ Rockabilly persuasion who are equally enamoured by him. There are sporadic shouts of ‘You’re fit!’ from the crowd and I get chatting to one girl who has just returned from Paris at the weekend to see them play and will be following them to Brighton and London to see out their tour in its entirety.
Another fan is Noel Fielding who designed a t- shirt that is languishing in the merchandise stall for a snip at £16. If someone was to say who are Noel Fielding’s favourite band I’d be hard pressed to find a better example, than 80MBD. They embody all the theatricality and hedonism of a proper rock band but also ever so slightly camp and daft. I could totally imagine Fielding at the back of the gig with his skin tight jeans on, swivelling his hips and revelling in the madness of it all.
They play tracks such as ‘Celebrate Your Mother’ which I enjoy just as much as I did first time around and ‘Psychosis Safari’ with the lyric ‘I drink all night and I sleep all day’ a classic Rock n Roll mantra repeated over and over in an appropriately menacing voice that is more than just a clique: I have it on good authority from someone who has had a drinking session with them that she had ‘the worst hangover of her life’ afterwards. The sheer amount of hedonism that went on may well explain the bands early demise and members coming and going but they have put their differences behind them to pull off another memorable performance and it is fitting that a band such as theirs have had such an intense, yet short lived career as that reflects the kind of music they make: short, sharp, effective and a whole lot of fun.
When people ask me what music I am in to, I find it very hard to give a definitive answer because, throughout my life I have been in to all kinds of music from House to Heavy Metal. So I can safely say I am open to most things however, I would say that overall my allegiances lie with Electronic music because it covers so many genres and is constantly developing and changing. Having grown up in Manchester my musical tastes have been influenced by nights such as Electric Chair and Mr Scruff which encompasses the sounds of House, Detroit Techno, Disco, Soul, Funk and Hip Hop. As far as bands are concerned, I particularly like bands that are melodic and have a hook and a heart such as Wild Beasts. While living in London in the early noughties, I was also listening to music that didn’t really have a heart, more of a pacemaker. I was listening to Electroclash at nights such as Erol Alkan’s, Trash. I love writing about music and believe you can be honest about why you don’t like something without being disrespectful, a skill I am still learning in real life! But ultimately I understand that music needs to be experienced first, rather than intellectualised but why do one, when you can do both?
