Words: Steve Watson, Photos: Adrian Wharton/Richie Yates
The first thing I saw as I entered the concert room was a sign stating “This gig will be loud ,Hearing protection is advised”.
Joey lead singer of Yobs stated” we are the quietest and best behaved band around”. There followed 30 minutes that would dispute that statement. Joey, Quinlan, Ali and new drummer Hamish delivered a deafening set including notable table tracks such as Yobs Theme, Cyanide, Shitty Eye and Cemetery Man. Vocalist Joey was up and down spinning the mic around, crawling around the monitors, doing press ups (!) and invading the crowd. Musically its a heavy end of garage sounds they have with relentless punk drums and loud fuzzed out guitars and bass. The band share some singing duties and the overall effect is the same sound all the way through with occasional side steps into so off kilter rhythms.
Next on were the headliners Guitar Wolf the loud Japanese three piece were just as loud and as they started their set yelling in broken English thank you “LIVERPOOL” which didn’t go down to well in Birkenhead. From the band drinking a beer in one at the outset, through some choreographed rock n roll stage moves and their constant use of volume as a weapon the band are the epitome of comic book rock n roll. Riffing off the Ramones and hitting up some wild fast RnR there is no danger of them becoming style over content as their hours set contains some great music as well as moment of complete abandon.
The volume never eased even when the bass amp lost power .The bassist and guitar/vox both loved crowd surfing during the set .There version of Eddie Cochran’s “Summertime Blues” and “I’m a teenage punk rocker”. Lots and lots of fun to watch and listen to.
Links:
Guitar Wolf:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/guitarwolfjetrock
Web: https://www.guitarwolf.net
Yobs:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yobs4lyf
LinkTree: https://yobs.lnk.to/yobs