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 Sorryâ€, 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 Bitingâ€, 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…Perhapsâ€, 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 lotteryâ€, 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!