It’s December, Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat. As I stroll through Bangor high street with punk legend drummer Spike T. Smith we pass every single closed down and boarded up building, shop, pub and venue which looks even more dreary and depressing in the dark, cold winter night. Spike’s pointing out each of the now closed venues that he’s played at in the past. It’s such a shame to see it like this. We get to the end of the high street and manage to find an open pub called The Skerries, we’re here to watch our friends Neil Crud and John Reynolds and their bands Spam Javelin and El Borracho. There’s no boarded up windows here, there’s life, there’s light and there’s people in one of the least vibrant parts of the city while the bands are setting up which is a surprise to myself and Spike considering the location. We struggled to find the venue.

I was initially told that Spam Javelin were headlining the night but they decided to let El Borracho headline and Spam Javelin would be opening the night. A manoeuvre obviously engineered by the legend Neil Crud to help promote the brilliant El Borracho.

Neil Cruds band Spam Javelin open up the night and I really don’t know what to expect as I have never watched him perform live before, as I’ve come to know Neil and working with Spike T. Smith I have unexpectedly discovered a new love for punk music and I am excited to watch Spam Javelin perform tonight.

As soon as Spam Javelin open up their set they don’t disappoint, it’s everything you expect it to be, loud and in your face, true punk rock with lyrics that are straight to the point. Up until five years ago I had only ever thought of Neil as the DJ and pioneer for Welsh Music that he is, Getting to know him more I now see him in a whole different light seeing him as a performer, not only is he a musician, guitarist, singer and a song writer…this guy is just like me, he’s cool as fuck! They play a short set opening up with ‘Shit you don’t need,’ then they play songs from both LPs ‘The Three Chords of the Apocalypse’ and ‘The Crack Whores of Betws Garmon’ then my personal favourite song called ‘Super Twat’ which is a song about a paedo copper who’s the head of the police! It really is fucking brilliant! And then onto another song called ‘More Shit You Don’t Need.’ There’s no fucking about with this set whatsoever. The message in Neil’s lyrics are loud and clear. I’m a Spam Javelin fan. The whole band are brilliant.

Next up are El Borracho, I’ve been looking forward to this moment for a long time, I’m a close friend of Johns and I swear he has sent me every single recording he has ever made since day one, which is why I’ve held back on this moment until now, knowing full well the hard work he’s put into to get El Borracho to the level they are at now. I’ve heard from enough reliable sources on the live music circuit that El Borracho are something special to be seen and one of the best new live bands on the circuit. And boy do they deliver.

Again I don’t really know what to expect but the one thing I know instantly from their first song is their recordings don’t do justice to how far this band have developed their sound. This has turned into something else, it has grown organically into something magical. The combination of John and Beans’ dynamic excites me. John has really developed his singing from the days of Entity into something where he uses three different vocal styles, something he didn’t have in his repertoire five years ago. Beans, a veteran on the scene from bands like Valium and Seagull Knievel, is a fantastic guitarist and singer-songwriter. The backbone grooves are solid, this music really has developed so much further from their ‘Pinecones’ EP. Again that combination of what beans and John do together is just something special along with the band as a whole. The set is enormous. The thought of this band making a record really, really excites me.

Scott Marsden
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