Ash: Chinnerys, Southend

Belfast icons Ash took their Ad Astra tour to Southend’s seafront last night. A sold-out Chinnerys was treated to the indie veterans and fellow Fierce Panda labelmates Bag of Cans.

Their latest album ‘Ad Astra’ has enjoyed cut through with its Graham Coxon collaboration and the cover of ‘Jump the Line’. The latter, given a real punk-rock makeover amid the 90s and early 00s.

It’s ‘Deadly Love’ and ‘Which One Do You Want’ from the new album, which shine brightest. The former saw Mark Hamilton’s basslines devastate like Sonic Youth as they throbbed with great menace. Frontman Tim Wheeler’s angelic vocals fight through the colossal sound, acting as a ray of light to cling to amid the gut-wrenching lyrics. Countering the devastation is ‘Which One Do You Want’, the finest Johnny Marr track he never wrote. Its initial shimmering guitars glide toward the forlorn solos, freeing Wheeler to allow his infectious vocals.

Elsewhere, ‘Orpheus’ obliterated souls with its huge riffs and mesmeric ability to make you feel Brian Wilson is fronting ...And You Will Know Us By Trail of the Dead or Queens of the Stone Age. Standing up to this classic was ‘Ad Astra’ thrash-joyride ‘Hallion’ which thrilled like The Wildhearts and sought meaning like ‘Ignore The Ignorant’ era of The Cribs.

During ‘Oh Yeah’ and ‘Goldfinger’, Ash don’t just revisit their youth, they reopen ours. The songs rush in like the first reckless summer you thought would never end, all noise and nerve and wide-eyed belief. In rooms like this, sweat-flecked, shoulder-to-shoulder, gloriously unpolished, these anthems first learned how to belong to a nation. Then ‘Girl From Mars’ detonates. Suddenly, you can see the moment they left this world for greatness.

These songs weren’t written for or played for James Van Der Beek, but with his recent tragic passing, Wheeler’s lyricism is so indebted to those angelic days when nothing and everything mattered.  

As for Ash, they were never of their time, which is why they resonated so clearly.

Bag Of Cans: This Feeling Stage, Truck Festival

Norwich five-piece Bag of Cans strode on stage a cornflake, a patient, a sailor, another sailor, and a drummer. What followed next was nothing short of brilliantly bizarre. Images courtesy of Alan Wells.

Images courtesy of Alan Wells.

Not since Les Incompetents threw themselves around the 100 Club in 2006 with such comical recklessness has indie-punk been so engaging. Bag of Cans tapped into the indie-punk licks of Good Shoes on the former single ‘Spin Cycle’. This tale of a spin cycle was coupled with rousing brass and the carefree indie warbling of cult indie outfits Cajun Dance Party and Larrikin Love. Inch by inch, the This Feeling crowd creeps forward with intrigue.

Despite the intent to induce laughter, there were some serious musical chops on display. The harmonies on ‘Milk and More’, a tale of a coked-up milkman making ill-advised advances, sounded like Graham Coxon had joined Super Furry Animals for a Beatles jam.

‘Hostage at the Dinner Table’ brought to life the mayhem of Fred MacPherson and Billy Leeson In those innocent Les Incompetents days. Riotous like the Libertines but, always with a wry sense of humour.

What began as an unexpecting crowd most definitely finished as one of future curiosity. Who was that? What was that? With their debut album already out, thousands will be about to find out more.