{"id":21934,"date":"2023-04-30T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=21934"},"modified":"2023-04-29T07:39:42","modified_gmt":"2023-04-29T07:39:42","slug":"the-atom-age-bottlekids-newport-le-pub-23rd-april-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/?p=21934","title":{"rendered":"The Atom Age\/Bottlekids \u2013 Newport, Le Pub \u2013 23rd<\/sup> April 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s nothing better than the feeling of the sticky floor of your favourite local live music venue on a rainy Sunday evening, but just like the time just under a year ago when I first encountered tonight\u2019s headliners live, I regret to say that once again the Covid social media warriors who swore they\u2019d be at every gig if a venue would be brave enough to open during lockdown. appear conspicuous by their absence, I bet they\u2019re probably all at home too busy posting about the national alert signal they didn\u2019t want to go off on their mobile just a few hours earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ho hum, still those of us who are in da house, and I see quite a few new faces amongst those parting with their \u00a38 (yup you can still do gigs for under a tenner folks) at the door, are in for a right rollicking night of live music make no mistake, and I can think of no netter way than starting things off than 30 odd minutes in the company of Chepstow based punk rockers Bottlekids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having not seen the trio live in quite a while it\u2019s interesting to see (and hear) they\u2019ve not only added a feisty cover of 3 Colours Red\u2019s \u2018Mental Blocks\u2019 to their set, but also (to my ears at least) moved ever so slightly away from the more pop\/punk edge or their earlier sound into a harder more aggressive direction. There\u2019s still plenty of hooks and \u201cwoah ohs\u201d to enjoy, but the band themselves appear have really grown as songwriters via their 2022 \u2018Zilch!\u2019 EP pushing the needles well and truly into the red and live they really are one hell of crack unit. Bottlekids really have been beavering away on the live front recently, playing gigs right across the country, and with plenty more shows on the itinerary for the rest of 2023, make sure you get out and support them, because as we all know, it\u2019s always nice to discover a great new band you\u2019ve never seen before (or in this case, not in a good while).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which is exactly how I discovered tonight\u2019s headliners, Californian R&B surf stompers The Atom Age. Sauntering in off the street eleven months earlier half realising a band I\u2019d heard via a YouTube video a friend had sent me were playing Le Pub and then immediately being blown away, tonight, is going to be my first proper encounter with the 12 legged rock \u2018n\u2019 roll monster, as this time around I come prepared with a knowledge of the band\u2019s back catalogue, but will it prove to be just as impressive as that initial encounter?<\/p>\n\n\n

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Well, it takes just a few seconds of opener \u2018Honeybees\u2019 to answer that question. Shake, rattle and rolling the always impressive Le Pub sound system The Atom Age launch themselves into action like an MC5 shaped musical torpedo and they aren\u2019t about to miss the target. We, the audience. It\u2019s fascinating to watch six musicians so seemingly different (visually at least) gel into such a formidable live force. From the Wilko Johnson meets Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist antics of singer\/guitarist Peter Niven, to the P\u00e5l Pot Pamparius of the farfisa Fred Brott, there is an explosive edge to the band that is only balanced out by the uber cool saxophone licks of Brendan Frye and (and I\u2019m still chuckling at the one) the young Jack Jarvis charms of anchor-man MC guitarist\/singer Ryan Perras. Add to this the substantial bottom end powerhouse drummer Fat Tim and bassist Kevin Mohn and you have a band able to level audiences and venues in equal measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set list wise the band are (perhaps understandably) still out on the road promoting their Covid impacted 2019 album \u2018Cry \u2018Til You Die\u2019 (available tonight for just \u00a310 on vinyl and \u00a35 on CD folks\u2026are you listening The Bronx?) as though it is a new record, and there are some actual newer tunes like \u2018Til We\u2019re Shakin\u2019, a track custom made for any upcoming Tarantino soundtrack, plus the frantic BRMC-like set closer \u2018I Was A Rock ‘N’ Roll Narcissist\u2019 that indicate the future does indeed sound great for The Atom Age.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of the older Atom Age tunes aired tonight it\u2019s still \u2018I Hypnotize\u2019 that flicks all the switches for yours truly, the tune sounding not unlike an unreleased cut from \u2018RFTC\u2019 era Rock From The Crypt, and who couldn\u2019t love that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere the aforementioned \u2018Cry \u2018Til You Die\u2019 album gets represented by its soulful and sassy opener \u2018Love Is A Numbers Game\u2019, the strutting \u2018Walk Through Walls\u2019 and perhaps that record\u2019s best cut, the glorious beetle crusher stomp of \u2018Never Looking\u2019 with its divine \u201cwoo-oo\u201d vocal breakdown, all delivered to absolute perfection.<\/p>\n\n\n

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And if its something from the Blag Dahlia co-produced \u2018Hot Shame\u2019 album (also available for just \u00a310 on vinyl and \u00a35 on CD folks) you are looking for, then there\u2019s the Hives on steroids blitz that is \u2018It\u2019s A Mess\u2019 plus the album\u2019s equally excellent title track for you to shake your Sunday night tail feather to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only downer for me tonight was it was all over way too soon. The Atom Age really are a very special band indeed, flying just under the punk rock cool radar (which at the moment seems to be distracted by any band coming out of Australia) but just the same delivering total annihilation wherever they play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Catch The Atom Age wherever you can\u2026 they are incredible! \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Johnny Hayward<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s nothing better than the feeling of the sticky floor of your favourite local live music venue on a rainy Sunday evening, but just like the time just under a year ago when I first encountered tonight\u2019s headliners live, I regret to say that once again the Covid social media warriors who swore they\u2019d be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[2486,1787,1818,1710,1681,1680,1833],"class_list":["post-21934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-live-review","tag-bottlekids","tag-its-a-revolution","tag-new-album","tag-rpm-online","tag-rpmnews1","tag-rpmonline","tag-tourlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21934","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=21934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21942,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21934\/revisions\/21942"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rpmonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}