Psicle: Snõõper

A mid week gig which only Debbie and I go to in lieu of Blackpool (another story) and this is as far from the elegant moves, twirls and splits as you can get. Ditto dress sense from stylish 70s north west England to blindfolded jumble sale chic 20s south west London. And although the music at each may have come from the USA one is northern soul and the other southern punk. As we're parking our bikes (badly in my case, see later) we can see the band chatting to a couple of punters and I cheerily say that I hope the gig goes well on my way in. They politely thank me. Ah, nice kids hey? At that age if I were them I'd have probably said something stupid like Where's your cocoa and slippers Grandad. We get a drink and then the support band are on. They play a fantastic hard core punk set reminiscent of the anarcho punk scene of Crass Subhumans etc. blended with the Ramones. High energy short and fast no messing about. A bit of a mosh too. I didn't catch what they are called, something like NOB IT but can't find anything on them by searching the internet. [Update after End of the Road 2024. Having bashed into one of them in the EOTR Snooper mosh pit and then chatting to them about 2 am they are called Nov LT (geddit) and then the guy lost his phone.] Maybe a supergroup playing punk for the evening? Anyway a great start to the evening. After our regulation sojourn in the garden we come back in to see the main band Snõõper. They start off fast loud and anarchic in a chaotically tight, or should that be a tightly chaotic, vein which continues throughout. Musically they are sort of New York original punk but with influences half way between West Coast hard core and UK thrash. Which I guess is NYC anyway. I'm not sure what the Nashville punk scene is like but if it's all like this I should go visit (chatting afterwards the mulleted guitarist tells us that there aren't too many punk bands amongst the country bluegrass venues and that's all found when I stayed a night there but that was a while ago, as in late 1980s). It's not punk by numbers though. The tunes are fast and punky and although chaotic they are damn fine musicians with an edge all of their own and not taking themselves too seriously. There's one interlude of a slower number which may have been a break in the set with some tunings up or a change of a string then straight back into the blaze of punk heaven. A large paper mache head is paraded into the mosh and pogos which seems like the most natural thing in the world right now. Being nudged about a fair bit I find myself in the mosh and quite happy to stay there for the rest of the set. The mosh has pretty much taken in all of the sell out crowd as the band don't take any prisoners. Although you can touch the roof if you jump with enough energy there's a fair bit of crowd surfing both from the band and the punters. Being the age I am I'm slightly concerned that the cables will be pulled down or a lighting rig will fall on the crowd but I don't think most of the kids would have given a toss. Oh to be young and stupid again. Having driven us into a frenzied mass of jumping pushing stumbling laughing humanity (excepting the paper mache thing and Roof Dog) the set is ended and the band start coiling up their leads whilst the DJ starts their stint. Wow. What a great night. We're so energised we have another drink, most of which I knock on the floor and have to get another, and cool down in the garden next to the rockery. After that we go outside where I find out that I've inadvertently threaded my bike cable through another guys bike and he's been patiently waiting for 20 minutes having tried asking everyone in the garden if they have a red bike outside. He and the girl he's with are very polite, again, more so than I would probably be, and say at least they had a bit of time to chat to some strangers. Feeling like a complete dickhead I release his bike. The mullet headed guitarist is also taking the air and I say how great they are and that they should play Glastonbury and Wide Awake and come back to the best venue in the UK if not Europe (Windmill) and other such blather. He seems genuinely happy to chat and when I ask if they're playing London again he says they have a couple of gigs this week but they have to get back home as the woman singer is an English teacher and can only tour during school holidays. So they'll be back in the summer. Singer of the best current punk band and still has a day job. There's no money in playing small venues I guess. By this time the landlord is out walking Roof Dog so after a quick pet of the dog, who's much more interested in the smells around the outside tables, it's time to cycle off home. Great night. Internet searching for the support I discover that Snooper are of the genre Egg Punk. Go internet search...