The Enemy: Kentish Town Forum, London

September 16th 2016, The Enemy played their last London gig “for the foreseeable future” according to the band. It was a bitter pill to swallow as thousands traipsed out of the venue that night. Powerless and downtrodden, the northern line exploded into bouts of ‘This Song’. We did not go quietly into the night. It was a fuck you to XFM and 6Music who ignored ‘It’s Automatic’, a criminally underrated album. They were supposed to have ours and their backs!

That angst had not subsided upon return six years later. Back in the same venue, Coventry’s favourite sons were celebrating the 15th anniversary of their debut album ‘We’ll Live And Die In These Towns’.

So many bands pussy foot around with music between the support acts. Not The Enemy. No one understands the plight of the working classes as they did/do. Train tickets, booking fees, and 7 quid for a pint, the band get they we’re being mugged off. They play monster hits from Kasabian, Oasis, and eventually return to the stage to The Who’s teenage desolation classic ‘Baba O Riley’. Bang. For. Buck!

Many anniversary album tours are a party; a nostalgia trip to relive great memories. The combative power of album opener ‘Aggro’ brought back feelings of yesteryear, but for different reasons. Back in 2007, the band played 5 sold-out nights at The Astoria (RIP). They were electric nights, the feeling of conquering the world was palpable. The destructive playing of the band in 2022 brought those feelings flooding back. Bodies lay strewn across the padded seats, beers flew as beacons of hope, and sweat fell with joy. This wasn’t a dewy-eyed trip to a misspent youth, this is real, this was for the here and now. The feeling of surmounting the bores was tangible but, it was fresh, the Tories, corporate greed, polluting water companies, no one feels safe!  

Grown men cried in the arms of their best mates and partners as top 10 hits ‘Had Enough’ and ‘Away From Here’ assaulted the senses. What, because we’re 15 years older, you think we’ve all grown up and enjoy middle management? Fuck off!

‘This Song’ was reprised by the band for the final song but, was by the crowd whenever a moment’s breath was allowed to be taken. This sold-out crowd was not letting their heroes out without them knowing how much they had been missed. As it was an album playback gig, it was peculiar to hear the classic ‘You’re Not Alone’ at the mid-point. It takes added potency in 2022 as the world falls down around ordinary people.

During the encore the volatility of ‘Gimme The Sign’ was a thing of pure beauty. The snap of the neck as Tom Clarke snarls ‘penguin’ and the colossal drumming of frayed edges of humanity. Meanwhile, ‘Saturday’ set the encore ablaze as Clarke demands we all fulfill our dreams.

What the future holds remains unclear for the band at present. As most of us lie awake thinking about bills to pay, the world needs The Enemy. There’s just too many dreams in this wasteland to leave album five behind.

*Image courtesy of Fear PR

This Is War – Exile Poet

Liverpool’s This Is War are releasing a single a month in 2022. Their seventh of the year is ‘Exile Poet’, their tribute to Bob Dylan.

Former Black Velvets frontman Paul Carden has been showcasing an array of influences through the singles run. From Rod Stewart to Jim Morrison to Tom Meighan. This time out, he takes his punk-soul spirit to the precipice of Dylan’s iconic drawl. The shorter breathier cadence illicit joyous images of the 00s indie-punk scene jamming Dylan songs.

The guitars in the closing minutes light up this ode to Dylan. Johnny Roberts and Mike Mullard’s escapist Rifles-esque licks collide with killer basslines worthy of Maximo Park and The Enemy at their peak.

‘Exile Poet’ is at its best when their own archetypal sound roars. The destructive drumming of Martyn Leah and the desperation Carden’s vocals could set fire to an ocean. They bleed passion, cut them and you’ll see Iggy tattooed on their spleen!  

Roll on next month’s instalment.

RATS: The Social, London

“When Jake Bugg went to number one it made national news headlines. Why? Because he never went to stage school nor graduated from Brits academy. He didn’t enter Britain’s Got Talent nor summit himself to the humiliations of X-Factor. He made headlines because he is just an ordinary kid from a state school……I can’t believe there aren’t plenty of teenagers out there with an ear for a good tune and a chip on their shoulder who have something to say to us.”

Billy Bragg, The John Peel Lecture, 2015

Introducing to you, Liverpool’s Rats! They headlined Creation23’s night at The Social Tuesday night and displayed said fire and skill.

Their brand of working class indie-punk always gets lost in the mix when the majors and x-factor types dominant the industry. However, with singles like ‘Weekend’ and ‘Figure It Out’ in their arsenal, eventually the keepers of the gate will be forced to open.

The latter, was explosive and right in the slot that will carry them to big venues. Throughout the set, elements of all their songs threatened to reach this level. Despite not being as fully formed; Rats are very much a band in the ascendancy. The wit and angst in their delivery of upcoming single ‘Jack’ and the emotive hooks of ‘Dreams’, it’s easy to imagine them as Liverpool’s answer to The Courteeners.

Awash with tales of sex, drugs and violence, Rats, like Jake Bugg in 2015, shouldn’t be considered an anomaly. On this showing, it won’t be long before they are lauded in the same light as Bugg. Woe betide anyone who stands in their way.

Friday 2nd August marks our 8th birthday. Come down to the New Cross Inn for a night of great live music. Tickets available here:

Tom Clarke: 100 Club, London

Sometimes, when bands break up, it spells the end for everyone involved. However, when The Enemy said farewell in 2016, a chink of light shone through the sadness in the form of Tom Clarke. The diminutive front man has a colossal vocal and, if Tom gets creative with it, what’s to stop him doing what Paul Weller has done post-The Jam?

Last week at the 100 Club, Clarke, armed with a guitarist and keyboardist, came out fighting. The set largely consisted of the classic debut album ‘We’ll Live And These Towns’. The tightness of Andy Hopkins and Liam Watts’ playing was sorely missed on ‘Aggro’ and ‘Technodanceaphobic’.

However, the raw power of Clarke’s soulful punk rock vocal carries everything else to The Enemy’s standards. Furthermore, on ‘You’re Not Alone’ and ‘Happy Birthday Jane’, the earnest beauty of Clarke’s writing is illuminated more than ever. The dual acoustic guitars serves the gritty anthem ‘No Time For Tears’ better also, the reduction in rock swagger gives it a mortality that the Ken Loach-esque lyrics deserve.

So, what about the new songs? ‘Don’t Need Nobody Else’ is defiant and full of The Enemy’ you’re your face attitude. Meanwhile, ‘Back To The Start’ demonstrates how to funnel the angst of the struggle into a crowd uniting sing-along.

The man of the people has spoken and will return in 2019. You have been warned!

Farewell to The Enemy

Ten years have passed since Coventry's three-piece The Enemy rolled into town. They were a rare working-class voice in British rock music and Friday witnessed their last-ever London gig at The Forum. Although, from the riotous atmosphere, you’d think it was a band on the brink of the big time.

Nobody left Kentish Town without losing a stone in sweat and jaded vocal cords. It’s what all gigs aspire to be. For anyone who reads TT regularly, sentences such as “why are Radio X and BBC6 not playing this” feature regularly. A sentiment echoed by frontman Tom Clarke on stage as to why they are splitting up.

It’s a cast-iron fact that their debut album is a classic. This should have given them the right for their singles to be a-listed when they returned for the second album. But the indie bubble of the time burst because major labels were destroying it with Scouting For Girls and the fucking Hoosiers, so they deemed The Enemy irrelevant. The presence of these tuneless gutless witless fucktards made the band more vital than ever. Clark’s venom and lyrical insights were needed to uphold a generation of indie fans who were about to be left behind.

Already the UK is a poorer musical landscape without them. As much as we love Frank Turner and The Vaccines, their middle-class and private school backgrounds can never write a song like ‘You’re Not Alone’ or ‘Be Somebody’.  Let’s hope Nicky Wire never gets bored of music!

The night itself was a joyous send-off for the band and its fans alike. The crowd was bang up for it from the moment the DJ played ‘Parklife’ 30mnis before they came on. Any opportunity to sing “now this song is about you” in-between songs was gladly taken, especially in the tube station and, for some, all the way to Bank.

The chink of light for fans should be Paul Weller. His varying and consistently high career since The Jam split will hopefully provide the inspiration for Tom to carry on in some guise.

So. Farewell to Tom, Liam, Andy, and everyone I’ve shared a sweat-filled room with since 2006. You’re not alone!