Wednesday 02/11/05 Towers Of London, The Rifles, Marner Brown @ 100 Club, London

 

“It’s a shame that they’re disguising it under the word ‘punk’. It’s a bunch of ****ing shit, you know?” So said ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones when asked his opinion on bands with names like Good Charlotte and Simple Plan, acts primarily loved by baggy-jeaned teenagers with (let’s not be subtle here) rubbish taste in music, buying pre-packaged mall rebellion. Chances are then, that Mr.Jones would absolutely love the Towers Of London. Let’s face it: they are punk as **** (we mean this in a good way). As Donny Tourette stands inches from the ceiling, singing ‘Just Lose It’ (Trading Standards would never trouble Towers’ song titles), it’s obvious there are few more plainly entertaining sights in music today.

 

Clunky name aside, The Suffrajets (because sledgehammer-subtle feminist sloganeering is so last decade) are…hang on, this isn’t The Suffrajets (who were scheduled to play tonight), but Marner Brown, a new five piece from South West London hailed as the “new breed of British rock” by their label website. Which is wrong, for a start. Because tonight we heard some huge, wonderfully elastic riffs pilfered from old Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath box sets being stretched to the point where they pass indulgency and slip into a homogenous whole. That said, the bassist looks like a member of Kings Of Leon, so there’s always modelling. And the lead singer swaggered on from within the crowd half-way through the band’s opening instrumental, hitting a tambourine before throwing it aside. Easily the best intro we’ve seen in ages.

 

The Rifles meanwhile get better every time we see them. Tonight’s performance ends with a verbal tussle over stage times worthy of pantomime wrestling. The Rifles win (yay!) and get to perform a cover of The Specials’ ‘Rat Race’ as a last song, much to the annoyance of a sound man ready to throttle the band’s cheeky mod-revivalist guitarist. With our head pressed against the speakers they frequently sound like the band most in tune with the spirit of The Jam, their best moments, like under-rated single of the year ‘Local Boy’, both euphoric and bittersweet, talking about our life when in truth we have no idea what they’re saying. File next to The Rakes; if there’s any justice they’ll be one of the biggest bands of next year.

 

Ever since Towers Of London introduced themselves earlier this year with the thrilling “Louder!” intro to ‘On A Noose’, they’ve split the indie community (though if truth be told they’ve got more haters then they’ll ever have fans). It’s with that one tantrum of a word that they open with tonight, a primal statement of intent that makes Andrew W.K resemble Belle & Sebastian. Microphone stands are flung, beer is sprayed, and wires are hung from, but here’s the best bit: Towers Of London are (whisper it) a pretty tight band. That they can actually play shouldn’t be much of a shock, just that for so long their appeal has been of a Babyshambles-esque destructive fascination, and as a result their brutal, direct and gleefully dumb (‘**** It Up’ anyone?) songs have been largely overlooked. Whoever thought a combination of Motley Crue, lashings of Jack Daniels and Thom Yorke haircuts circa ’93 would be one of the year’s highlights? If, as their detractors claim, it is just one big elaborate joke, at least it’s one delivered with the most nihilistic, excessive and downright fun punchline.

Photos by: Simon Leak