Ahhh…a Saturday night out in The Mitre, back in my old hometown of Abertillery. It must be a good three decades since I last stumbled up the stone steps that lead into this venue on a Saturday night, and during that time the building has changed hands many times over, even becoming an Indian restaurant at one point. Most recently though it’s reopened as a community-run pub (hosting events like still-life art classes and book clubs alongside weekend live music gigs) priding itself on being quirky, a little bit weird, and 100% inclusive, and you probably won’t be surprised to hear that some of the people helping make all of this happen are also involved in the town’s hugely popular annual SlugFest event….and that ladies and gentlemen is why for the second (and final) night of Swedish punk rockers (and friends of SlugFest) The Chuck Norris Experiment’s most fleeting of UK visits they have chosen to play Abertillery and not some handy airport city location in preparation for their return flight home.

Before we get to tonight’s headliners though we have a mighty fine undercard to enjoy, and first up we have Abertillery’s finest back door rock ‘n’ roll outfit and inhuman drinking machines Trigger McPoopshute. Recently reunited with original drummer Pix, we are but a dropped drumstick into opener ‘Hench’ and already it’s like he’s never been away, all the old faves (or “shits” as frontman Sutton lovingly refers to them) are back, and seeing as most of the set list is written about some of Abertillery’s most notable characters how could they ever go wrong playing a homer?  ‘Sergeant Fitta’ is the obvious exception to that songwriting rule, penned as a tribute to Chuck Dakota, bass player of tonight’s headline act, it’s rather heartening to see the soon to be birthday boy stood in the crowd singing along to every one of Trigger’s Aber anthems. ‘American Manc’ makes a welcome return to the set tonight too and not having played this beauty in years it’s one of the night’s highlights even if guitarist Shov’s “fucking jackpot” backing vocals are sadly missing.  With the promise of the band’s first new material in quite some time set to be premiered at upcoming shows I for one hope what we do get is an answer to the conundrum posed by Trigger guitarist Dean midway through tonight, asking “have you ever seen gulls in trees?” Hmmm, let me think about that.

Next up in double quick fashion are Deathtraps. With Veej, Fraser, Matty and Nooman now four albums, numerous compilations and EPs into their sonic crusade, this is a band who have now evolved to the point where their awesomely titled ‘Lust For Likes’ and ‘Golden Age of Road Rage’ CDs are without question their most accomplished releases to date. It should come as no surprise then that the songs from these EPs make up a large chunk of the band’s current set list with ‘You’re The One That I’m Talking About’ along with the likes of ‘Private Vietnam’, ‘You’re A Rat’ and ‘Your Time Is Gonna Come’ all custom made to shake the foundations of a music venue near you soon. That’s not to say that the “oldies” like ‘Cool Kids’ and ‘Red Eyes Black Kisses’ are slouches though, no way, in fact by the time we reach the latter Chuck Dakota has been joined by stage sidekick and singer Chuck Ransom and both are nodding along like proper Deathtraps fanboys. When playing SlugFest Deathtraps always try to add in a special cover version or two, and tonight is no exception with Trigger frontman Sutton joining them for a boisterous ‘Denim Demon’ before Chuck Dakota himself is lured up onto the stage for a raucous ‘I Got Erection’. Now if you’d told me three decades ago I’d be singing along to tongue in cheek homo-erotic classics like this in The Mitre on a Saturday night, I’d have called you crazy, but let’s get it on. Because I like it, love it, like it, love it. (ahem…I’ll get my coat)

It’s a full ten years since The Chuck Norris Experiment first flew in from Gothenburg to entertain the Abertillery faithful at SlugFest 8, and a lot has changed in that time, however the fact that Chuck Dakota chooses to wear a Sick Livers (who were also on the SlugFest bill back then) t-shirt on stage tonight speaks volumes for how much influence and impact the event has had on people’s lives over the years, and along the way helped raise lots of money for local charities too. The Chuck Norris Experiment get this 100% and like I said at the top of this review that’s why they are here tonight after playing the sold-out Hard Rock Hell Spring Ball in Great Yarmouth with the likes of Love/Hate and New Generation Superstars the night before.

Unfortunately, guitarist Chuck The Ripper isn’t along for the ride this time around due to him being unwell (get well soon fella), but that doesn’t stop his four CNE bandmates creating one hell of a party atmosphere during their allotted hour on stage playing songs from their 2024 album ’20’ like the frantic ‘Deadshot’ and broodingly sinister  ‘Jason Voorhees’ alongside oldies like ‘The Roof Is About To Cave In’ and ‘Bullshit City’ as their set morphs into Chuck Dakota’s unofficial early fortieth birthday party complete with cake and a pre-taped Swedish Happy Birthday celebratory song piped over the venue’s pa.  There’s plenty of time for some choice cuts from 2021’s ‘This Will Leave A Mark’ album too along with ‘Crashing Down The Stairs’ from 2019’s ‘Shortcuts’ record but as there is also have a strict 11 O’clock curfew to respect audience requests are kept to a bare minimum. This way CNE bow out bang on cue with an incendiary ‘You Go Boom!’ and just like that, it’s all over, and we’re left with a frantic dash for the merch table for some cut price vinyl and t-shirts as there’s no venue commission levy here that’s for sure folks.

All in all, a truly top-notch night of musical entertainment held in a venue that I hope goes from strength to strength in 2025.

Author: Johnny Hayward