Swami and the Bed of Nails/Mudd Club – Beacon (Lantern Hall), Bristol – 18th September 2024

Swami and the Bed of Nails/Mudd Club – Beacon (Lantern Hall), Bristol – 18th September 2024

Playing their first show outside of the US less than an hour away from my home I was not about to miss seeing the Swami and his Bed of Nails for the very first time, not even when it’s taking place in a venue that’s really not suited to this kind of show.

Tonight, it’s not the only show in the venue either as in the main hall we have Elvis Costello and Steve Nieve reinventing that singer’s back catalogue (a show I’d caught a few nights earlier and found to be very interesting indeed) whilst here in the smaller Lantern side room we have John Reis (like you didn’t know he’s the Swami) ploughing through a set of tunes that whilst not a million miles away from his more fabled days fronting Rocket Front The Crypt are really drawn from a much wider influence gene pool. One listen to the band’s latest ‘All This Awaits You…’ record will prove this, as in the words of the man himself, they are “fanning the embers of rock n roll music.” So, you best stand back, because this five piece really are about to explode, and its only gig number one.

Before all that though, and warming things up nicely for the headliners are local trio The Mudd Club who only found out they had landed the gig a few days ago, not that they let it phase them, playing a set of at times Cramps-y influenced garage rock they utilised their 30 minute slot well, plugging their ‘Give Me A Thrill’ record and winning over some new fans in the process.

By contrast as John Reis comments late into his band’s set tonight, most of the people here to see Bed Of Nails have probably been with him for over three decades now, and the show actually ends with a song by the band I last saw him playing in Bristol with, ‘All Hits’ by The Night Marchers. That was God only knows how long ago. This is certainly no nostalgia set though, and a Sultan’s cover aside (the glorious ‘Just a Fool’) tonight’s set list is all about the frontman’s last two Swami records.

Kicking off with two tracks from 2022’s ‘Ride the Wild Night’ (the title track and ‘Do You Still Wanna Make Out?’) the band sound anything but jaded after their long trip over from the US, in fact if anything a slight timing misunderstanding with the sound guys ahead of the five piece taking to the stage only seems to fire the guys up even more.

It must be difficult for any band to promote a new album when it isn’t officially available in the country they are playing (the vinyl is available at the merch table folks for a very modest £25) but that doesn’t deter the guys as they rip through all the album’s  nine tracks with the keyboards of Joe Guevara really adding that extra dimension to the band’s distinctly rock ‘n’ roll missive. Highlights are aplenty but the furious ‘Ketchup, Mustard And Relish’ is the best Ramones song da bruddahs never wrote, and in ‘How Are You Peeling?’ Reis has possibly written one of his best songs ever…about fruit. Ha!

Outside of the new album there’s a further (I think) three belters from the Swami’s debut record with ‘Vape In The Dark Alone’ seemingly not complete without our leader’s hilarious preamble that fully explains the influence behind the song.

There are another eight shows on this tour (it all rounds off at the Oslo in London on the 28th of September) for you to not only discover this vape related secret but also pick up a copy of the band’s fantastic ‘All This Awaits You…’ record.

Don’t sleep on this one, because you will be seeing one of the gigs of the year if you do pick up a ticket or three.

Just do it!

Author: Johnny Hayward

It’s A Revolution Podcast – Episode 42

It’s A Revolution Podcast – Episode 42
You might need a thicker skin but you need to give yourself some cool credit points for tuning in to the latest episode of the Podcast as Double D and Chris’Not Too Posh To Mosh’ Davie indulge you the listeners in some pretty awesome tunes from around the globe both old and new. We kick off in style with another new track off the Hip Priests swan song EP and a cracker entitled ‘Need A Thicker Skin’ we don’t let up as Conservative Military Image bing some bovver with ‘Yard Hard’. Short but oh so sweet.

How about the latest from Amyl & The Sniffers? ‘Chewing Gum’ before we head to Sweden for some good old acoustic rock n roll courtesy of Dynamic Drinking Club cut from the same cloth as Dave Kusworth and Nikki Sudden or Johnny Thunders. Its available from Beluga Records and well worth the investment.

Repeat Records are releasing some fantastic records of underground talent and they also released this split track from SMASH and we play another on the next show as well, one of my favourite labels at the moment pumping out great bands and promoting some great shows in south Wales as well.

Another great label we always look forward to hearing what they put out is Slovenly Records and this single Scared Of Chaka and the single ‘Bated Breath’. One of the best band names we’ve come across in a while has to be The Mary Tyler Whores and their new single ‘American Sex Fiend’ what a banger this is.

Jesse Malin has a triple album (Silver Patron Saint) coming out where artists perform one of his songs and we’ve already played Billie Joe Armstrong a few weeks back and this week we offer Bruce Springsteen taking on a Malin classic and knocking it out of the park. Can’t wait to get my hands on this triple album when it comes out this month. I strongly suggest you jump in as well so you don’t miss out it’s going to be special.

As more tracks are released I’m sure we can be persuaded to play more from this.

Captain Razz and Hard Ons have new singles we air from Down Under respectively before we wake you all up with the awesome Shove and their tribute to ‘King Diamond’ before Swami And The Bed Of Nails make us a little peckish with a new one from their fantastic short but sweet album. It’s been a while since we played some Glam Rock, so we offer Starcrazy and ‘What Its Worth’ without further ado.

If you were wondering what cover we have in store this week then look no further than Boundary Breakers Asian Dub Foundation featuring Iggy Pop for a romp through his classic ‘No Fun’ done in a very Asian Dub style before we sign off this week with a Wonk Unit classic from the vault as we sign off with ‘Guts’. Join us next time kids for some more drivel chatter and the most excellent bunch of tunes anywhere. Adios Amigos until next time.