Another night, another bunch of lunatics running riot on the stage of Ivory Blacks. Actually as a bonus we had two bunches of lunatics as openers The TV Casualties were as mad as a box of badgers who’ve been told that their favourite TV show has just been cancelled. And the last episode was a cliff-hanger.
Two Michaels and a Morgan were a great opener for Ward XVI, being horror-themed and dressed in silly clothes. Musically they are “punk-influenced” if by “influenced” you mean “on crack”. A traditional band, they are not. Their music is largely quite abrasive though the occasional slower number crept in to give the audience a false sense of security. The faster stuff was fast though, thrash metal meets punk meets sixteen cans of Monster and a healthy dose of Ritalin.
There were a few stutters in the show where the between-song patter could have gone slightly more smoothly, but I’m nit-picking. By the end of their slot, all three members were sweaty (wearing a heavy woollen Scots Guards uniform was maybe a poor idea, on reflection) and they were in full flow. Each song received applause, and there were genuine laughs on both sides of the barrier.
Keep an ear out for their track “They Live”, one of several based on classic horror films, and if you see them pop up at a venue near you then do head over. Your life will change forever, though I’m not promising it’ll be for the better.
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Tonight’s headliners were on show two of a 14-night / 14-show run, having started things off in Dundee the previous evening. Ward XVI are no strangers to these pages and for good reason. We know every band on the independent circuit works their arses off, but Ward XVI take it one step further than most. It’s not just the music, it’s the whole spectacle of their show which is the draw. The effort they put into the script, props, songs, costumes and packing them all into a van (which Psychoberry will sometimes not open the wrong door of and ruin it all) is incredible.
With the completion and release of the third album in the Psychoberry sequence, Id3ntity, the whole scary story can now be told by cherry-picking songs from all three albums and cramming them into about an hour and fifteen minutes. There were a couple of technical issues, but they were dealt with in an appropriate fashion and the audience certainly didn’t have any issues with this. When your show is as complex as Ward XVI’s there’s going to be a hitch, especially at the start of the tour.
Additional extras aside, this was as good a show as I’ve seen from them outside of the larger-scale festival efforts. The new album is my favourite of the trilogy and I loved hearing “Blood Is The New Black”, “Macabaret” and “We Are Legion” live for the first time. Dok’s guitar solos are damn fine, and Bam Bam’s drums are as solid as ever. A good job he’s kept behind bars, as there’s no telling the damage he’d do if he got free.
Wolfy laid down the bass line as he always does while being part of the show as well, and I’m sure Rico did more backing vocals than I’m used to hearing (but I am, as always, prepared to be told I was obviously just not paying attention at previous shows). Psychoberry herself was front and centre, and managed to refrain from killing anyone until around 2/3 of the way through the show which is fairly restrained for her. Credit also to the lovely Nurse Betty who is not only a character, but a stage hand running around behind the scenes.
We’re actually at the point, with three albums, where I’m missing some songs that I’m used to hearing. “No Burn The Witch” or “Toybox”! But that’s the price you pay for a larger selection of tracks. I await the “three albums in full, with accompanying story” tour, though maybe they’re planning on licensing that out to a theatre company…
The band had fun, the audience had fun, the support band had fun (and stayed to watch the headliners, kudos). None of this is a surprise, given it was a Ward XVI show. There are still 11 dates left on the tour at the time of publishing (they’ll be on stage in Newcastle in about an hour if you want to make it 12), and you won’t get better value for money gig-wise if you head out to catch them.
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Photos coming soon from Sean Larkin, who’ll be going snap happy at the Leicester gig!
