Snuff

Live in London (2016)

NickNutter

 30 years of Snuff! That makes us all feel pretty old. I first saw

this band 15 years ago at Reading Festival, they blew me away that

day. I'd been aware of them before that obviously, but seeing them

live meant I would take every opportunity to see them again in the

future whenever I could. They always smash it.

This UK tour saw them hit the road with The Spoilers, and Fat Wreck

label mates Bad Cop Bad Cop. The 'home leg' if ya like, was a big

show at the Electric Ballroom in Camden. A stone's throw from the

station, and once you look past all the shit club nights they put on,

it's actually a decent venue with a good sound system. It's also

pretty big, so hats off to Snuff cos they packed the place out.

My apologies go to The Spoilers, I missed 'em, but do check them out

if you can. I arrived in time to see Bad Cop Bad Cop hit the stage.

Man this band is fun! Really hammering the 'pop' in to 'pop punk'.

Yeah they're cute and their songs sound like they're straight out of

an American Pie soundtrack, but fuck it, they can play, and they

write good songs. Most of the set obviously came from their debut

album “Not Sorry”, I enjoyed it, and I look forward to hearing

more from them.

So, this 30th anniversary tour for Snuff also meant it's

been 20 years since the release of “Demmamusabebonk” (try saying

that after a few pints). This was kind of a big deal at the time,

Snuff's first album since their split in 1991. But fair play to them,

the record has gone down with many as one of the finest punk albums

ever. It was no surprise, therefore, that most of the set came from

that album, but who cares when it's that fuckin' good! There was also

a few from the new EP “No Biting”, including a great cover of the

black beauty theme tune, which actually went down rather well..! One

thing I was slightly disappointed in was there was nothing from their

latest full length “54321…Perhaps”, cos I bloody love that

album. Ah well, they still sounded amazing once they got warmed up,

and you have to hand it to Duncan Redmond, being able to play drums

and sing at the same time with such quality.

Highlights included when Bad Cop Bad Cop returned to the stage to

dance along to 'soul limbo', they've got good moves! Especially Linh

Le… nice. “Crowd setlist lottery”, I like to call it, where

members of the audience picked out a song from a box, which the band

would then play, that was pretty fun.

Finishing with the inevitable 'whatever happened to the likely lads',

and 'arsehole', the place was swiftly cleared of us punk riff raff by

10pm, in prep for club night. Ah well, at least the pubs round Camden

were still open.

'Til next time…'snuff said!