GIG REVIEW: Stu Taylor Memorial Gig @ The Black Bull Gateshead: In Evil Hour + Face Up! + Force Fed Lies + Healthy Junkies + LoGoZ + Slackrr + The Kut + Kid Klumsy, Sunday 18 February 2024
Privileged though I am to have grown up listening to punk rock when it was in its heyday, being of a certain age these days certainly has its downsides.
One is that barely a week seems to pass without reading sad news on Facebook or Twitter about another musician or well-known face on the punk scene being taken too soon.
It’s a timely reminder that we’re all getting on a bit, as if our sore heads and aching bodies the day after a gig aren’t reminder enough.
One recent such message saddened me more than most others, even though I only vaguely knew the person who’d passed on to the big punk rock party in the sky.
Stu Taylor was known to most as Uncle Stu, who made his own contribution to the scene by promoting gigs at the Star & Garter in Manchester and his label, STP Records, putting out dozens of releases by bands from the DIY punk scene.
I first met him a decade or so right here at the Black Bull, when he was pushing an up and coming band called Dirt Box Disco. As well as putting out their early releases, Stu and his missus Sam were doing their merch.
I got to know him a bit better a few years later when I started this website in 2019, and contacted him to ask if there was any chance I could review new STP releases.
He didn’t know me from Adam, but was happy to oblige, and sent a steady stream of advance MP3s to my inbox, usually followed upon review and release by a copy of the CD for my collection.
Stu was a familiar face at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool for years, selling their official merchandise, and he also did merch for local festivals like Kubix and Stone Valley.
Last time I saw him was at Rebellion 2023, when I bought a copy of the excellent debut album by The White Ribbons, one of many bands he championed over the years. The stall was busy so I didn’t say more than a few words, figuring I’d catch up with him another time. But there was no next time.
The sad news of Stu’s sudden death broke in November, just a week before our shared birthday. I felt great sadness for a man I hardly knew, for his family and all those who knew him a lot better than I did.
I recalled his daily messages of positivity during lockdown, how he posted about going to watch non-league football around the North West once the covid shackles were off, and how he relished the return of live music.
I wished I’d known him better, as he seemed like a kindred spirit. When I saw the outpouring of emotion that followed his death I hoped he knew how much he was loved and appreciated by those he knew, helped, and came into contact with.
He made a positive difference to a lot of people’s lives, and wouldn’t we all like to be able to say that?
This gig at the venue where I first met Stu was part of a weekend memorial which began on Saturday, at – where else? – his beloved Star & Garter.
It felt appropriate too that today’s openers were Kid Klumsy, whose singer Weab was frontman of Dirt Box Disco when I first met Stu all those years ago. He was in mischievous mood from the off, remarking how it was the first time he’d played Gateshead sober, and it would also be the last, as the place was a bit of a dump, but no one took offence.
Kid Klumsy are a strange bunch, mixing catchy pop-punk choruses with hardcore, but they’re enormous fun. At one point Weab couldn’t sing for laughing as the bass player somehow fell off the stage. It’s only 6in high, so he wasn’t hurt, but this set the tone for the day; loud music mixed with warm tributes, and plenty of smiles and laughter, plus the odd tear in the eye, as the bands remembered the man who’d done so much for them.
KK thundered through their allotted half hour in what seemed like no time, including catchy-as-hell songs like Boobs from their 2020 Faces Don’t Fit EP, their rowdy cover of Caravan Of Love and set closer Grow Up from their 2018 debut EP Spit Your Dummy Out.
Next up were The Kut, an all-female trio I’d seen once before, at Rebellion a few years ago. It turns out they’re actually a seven-strong collective, featuring a rolling cast of members, the one constant being frontwoman Maha.
They play a grungey but melodic brand of garage-punk, full of dirty riffs and powered by a pummelling rhythm section, and have two albums to their name, 2018’s Valley Of Thorns, and 2022’s Grit.
Their eight-song set was equally divided between the two records, with highlights including opener I Am Vain and Bad Man from the first album and On My Own and the closing And 1 More from the most recent.
The Kut were quick to mention that Stu was ahead of the game as far as promoters giving female musicians a chance, with his bills generally including at least one female artist.
Next up were another three-piece, Slackrr, and this was a band who were new to me, even though they’ve been going since 2018 and have played over 300 gigs. They’ve come all the way from Southampton, and I immediately warm to their feelgood pop-punk sound, which has plenty of bite.
Scotty on guitar and vocals, Cait on bass and Joe on drums make a very enjoyable racket, honed over the course of three albums, and they’re quick to mention that it’s down to Stu’s plugging that one of their songs, The Current, ended up on the Playstation game VR Skater – a huge boost to their profile.
It’s one of the standout moments of their half hour of power, and their set slips down as nicely as the beers which are flowing in abundance in the venue. I make a mental note to check them out on my streaming service of choice, and I’m sure it won’t be long before some of their music finds its way into my collection!
Things are getting lively now, and a band I’m more than familiar with, LoGoZ, from Ashington in Northumberland, are on next. By a strange quirk, they were also on the bill for that Dirt Box Disco show I mentioned earlier, and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen them since.
Sometimes they’re a four-piece, sometimes there’s just three of them, and today it’s the latter, with frontman Peesh’s bassist son Kieran not present. It matters not, as Peesh and fellow guitarist Paul started the band as a trio back in 2012.
They’re one of the hardest-working bands on the North East gig circuit, and are deservedly winning recognition elsewhere, with the recent addition of new drummer Danny seeming to have made them play even faster, if that’s possible.
LoGoZ seem determined to cram as many songs as possible into their half hour, and Long Time Dead, Freakshow, Tropical Apocalypse and the excellent Disgraceland (dedicated to their hometown Ashington) getting a great response. They’ve got a new EP on the way soon, and I can’t wait to hear it.
Healthy Junkies, up next, are another band who enjoyed a helping hand from Stu along the way. Formed in London in 2010, they released two of their six albums to date on STP Records, and are regulars on the festival circuit as well as playing their own shows.
The four-piece play an infectious brand of grunge-punk, with a tinge of goth for good measure. This is only the second time I’ve seen them. It won’t be the last, as they power through a half-hour set of old and new songs, including two unrecorded tracks, Self-Conscious and Julie’s Got A Job, which hints at new music on the way.
They’re a tight outfit, as befits a band of their experience, and although guitarist Phil Honey-Jones does his best to steal the limelight, throwing shapes as he throws down riffs, it’s vocalist Nina Courson who’s the star of the show, finishing the show on her knees and throwing back her flowing locks as she pulls off the big finish. Great stuff, and hopefully I’ll see Healthy Junkies again sooner rather than later.
There’s been lots of melody thus far, but things are about to take a turn for the heavier, with the arrival on stage of Force Fed Lies, a three-piece from nearby South Shields. Think early Discharge meets Motorhead and you won’t be far off the mark.
Carlton (guitar & vox), Steve (bass & vox) and Kev (drums) are a band I’ve seen loads of times, and they always deliver. Most of their set, including old favourites like Killing Time, Bibles & Bombs and SNAFU, come from their one and so far only album, 2018’s Begging For Change, but tonight there’s a couple of unreleased songs – No Mercy, and Dead Kennedy, the latter which I hadn’t heard before.
Brutal onslaught over, it’s time for another new-to-me band, Face Up!, who have come from the West Midlands to be involved in this tribute. It’s a bit of a tight squeeze for the five of them onto the Black Bull stage, but this is their first-ever gig in the Newcastle area and they’re clearly up for it.
They’re a hardcore band, but the T-shirt on their merch saying ‘Face Up or Fuck Off’ was probably a bit of a clue! I don’t know any of their songs, but they make a glorious noise, green-haired frontwoman Roxanne is a force of nature who looks to be having an absolute blast, and I’m hooked. The energy coming off the stage is electric, and how someone doesn’t lose an eye to a flailing guitar headstock I have no idea.
I head straight to their merch after they’ve finished a blistering set to snap up both their albums, 2019’s debut The World Is Ours and last year’s follow-up FU! Try to catch Face Up! live if you can – they’re awesome.
Finally then, time for tonight’s headliners, In Evil Hour, from just down the road in Darlington. They’ve been thrashing out their brand of melodic hardcore for more than a decade now, and released their debut album, The World Bleeds Out, on STP Records back in 2013.
The bulk of the set comes from the follow-up, 2017’s Lights Down, but there’s a couple of newer tracks too, 2050 and Explain Things To Me, which have so far only enjoyed digital release.
Alice is another engaging frontwoman – one of many who have performed for us today – and she elicits a rousing response when she urges us to give it up one last time for Stu before finishing on a high with their best song, Predators, from 2015’s Built On Our Back EP.
It’s a fitting end to a wonderful day which has seen every band give it their all, and our host Shev – a vital cog in the North East DIY punk scene – handling the sound and lights while taking the inevitable technical glitches in his stride. R.I.P. Uncle Stu. You would have loved this weekend.
