{"id":10256,"date":"2020-01-18T05:00:24","date_gmt":"2020-01-18T05:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=10256"},"modified":"2020-01-14T17:58:51","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T17:58:51","slug":"wonk-unit-aerial-salad-bottlekids-cardiff-clwb-ifor-bach-11th-january-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=10256","title":{"rendered":"Wonk Unit\/Aerial Salad\/Bottlekids \u2013 Cardiff, Clwb Ifor Bach \u2013 11th January 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s time for my first gig of the \u201croaring twenties\u201d, but tonight is sadly also the last one to be put on by Drew and the Cardiff Punk Rock Bowling team as they are seemingly disbanding after tonight\u2019s event. From my experience, it\u2019s always a mixture of joy and pain (well it is the next morning) when you see Wonk Unit live so they as returning headliners for this PRB Awards night feels like the perfect choice to see out this vibrant and close-knit community of Kingpins.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kicking things off tonight at a time when most people are seemingly still enjoying their first (much cheaper) pint in one of the nearby watering holes are Chepstow\u2019s Bottlekids. It\u2019s six months since I last saw the trio live downstairs in this very same venue and inbetween they\u2019ve released a debut self-titled EP to widespread critical acclaim, and here with the benefit of Ifor Bach\u2019s main room sound system the likes of \u201925 Days\u2019 sound like stadium filling anthems for the next generation. With a string of German tour dates already ahead of them these are busy times for Bottlekids make sure you check them out.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If Bottlekids see the stadium punk of Green Day as their musical peers then Manchester\u2019s Aerial Salad must look up to DJ Rubble from Paw Patrol. They look so young I can\u2019t help but wonder if they are actually legally supposed in the venue at all. Don\u2019t let their child like appearance fool you though, as once these boys get into their stride, they\u2019ll rip your throat out.\u00a0 I should perhaps admit that the last time our paths crossed I really didn\u2019t \u201cget\u201d all the fuss that was being generated around the band at the time, and they just kind of felt like a harder pop\/punk version of Arctic Monkeys to me. A year and a half on though and tonight I have to say Aerial Salad are nothing short of phenomenal, and I can now see the trio\u2019s immediate appeal plastered across the smiling faces all around me. It\u2019s kind of reassuring to know that the future of punk rock is very much safe in the hands of Jamie, Matt and Mike. Fantastic stuff!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It only feels like a few weeks ago that I was last penning a live review of Wonk Unit for RPM Online, and that\u2019s because it was. Yet as the Wonk faithful know all too well you\u2019ll never get tired of seeing the greatest band ever to come out of Croydon simply because there\u2019s never two Wonk gigs alike, and with the insanity (and nudity) of their valleys shows of old missing from proceedings tonight it really is time for the music to do the talking. So, with added V\u00e9ronique on keyboards coupled with the aforementioned Clwb Ifor rig I\u2019m pleased to report that Wonk Unit really have never sounded more amazing than they do tonight in the 20 plus times I must have now seen them live.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As always Daddy Wonk\u2019s ability to mix deep cuts with \u201cthe hits\u201d is always a delight to behold as the Unit are kept well and truly on their toes with the likes of \u2018Girlfriend Is A Lunatic\u2019 (from the band\u2019s debut \u2018Flying The Japanese Flag\u2019) and \u2018Judus Betrayers\u2019 (from the far more recent \u2018Terror\u2019) thrown into the set seemingly on a whim, but it is their upmost credit that they never once fail to rise to the challenge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Likewise it\u2019s great to hear curveballs like \u2018Old Trains\u2019 and \u2018We Are The England\u2019 sandwiched in alongside the ferocious \u2018Depressed?\u2019 and the pogo-tastic \u2018Go Easy\u2019 plus there\u2019s the chaos of returning set closer \u2018Johnny Rambo\u2019, and I\u2019ll say it again the eclectic influences at the very core of Wonk Unit is what makes them such an essential live band.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Clwb Ifor was packed out tonight just 24 hours after Subhumans had done just the same, remind me who was it that said punk rock was dead?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Well tonight it\u2019s never been more alive, exciting, or essential\u2026 FACT!<\/p>\n

Author: Johnny Hayward<\/p>\n

Wonk Unit Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

Aerial Salad Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n

Bottlekids Facebook<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s time for my first gig of the \u201croaring twenties\u201d, but tonight is sadly also the last one to be put on by Drew and the Cardiff Punk Rock Bowling team as they are seemingly disbanding after tonight\u2019s event. From my experience, it\u2019s always a mixture of joy and pain (well it is the next […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10261,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[4263,2486,1975,238],"class_list":["post-10256","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-review","tag-aerial-salad","tag-bottlekids","tag-clwb-ifor-bach","tag-wonk-unit","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10256","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10256"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10256\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10262,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10256\/revisions\/10262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10256"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}