BABYSHAMBLES / DEADCUTS - Live @ Cambridge Junction (*A Review / Article*)

Last Thursday (17^th) between them Babyshambles and support band Deadcuts blew the roof of the Cambridge Junction. It was a night of Pure Rock'n'Roll at its most riveting and exciting, certainly the best time I've seen Babyshambles. I wont go into detail of the songs they played, but it was a well selected cross section of the old'n'new, borrowed'n'blue, because Babyshambles are more than just Pete Doherty, as a listen to their latest album Sequel To The Prequel will testify. Pete was at his playful and prancing best, at one point, with scant regard for health and safety he launched the micstand and microphone into the adoring throng of 'shambles crazies. Earlier in the evening Deadcuts had shaken the foundations with a post punk, post brit pop sonic assault on the senses. From the opening guitar noise and the first few chords along with their glam scruff look something told me that Deadcuts might be quite good. Thirty minutes later and my initial reaction had been proved wrong, they weren't quite good, they were fucking great!

A trip to their facebook page the next day revealed a lot more about Deadcuts to me. It turns out singer and guitarist Mark Keds had been in the Senseless Things (a late 80's early 90's indie guitar band.) Bassist Mark McCarthy played in The Wonder Stuff, and Goth Rockers Queen Adrena, Drummer Trevor Sharpe had hit the skins for Miranda Sex Garden, while the guitarist with a look of Johnny Thunders about him was Jerome Alexander formerly of The Skuzzies. With that sort of pedigree, and a rich and varied list of influences from Johnny Thunders to Death In June and The Birthday Party to Prince. it is no wonder the Deadcuts are a....cut above yer average Rock'n'Roll band.

The piercing twin guitar attack, solid Semtex bass and the machine gun drums hammer their songs into yer head and heart, these are tunes that absorb and engulf the listener before spitting them out shaking and twitching on the floor. The throaty and drawling vocals add to the full throttle aural assault. Never mind being a breath of fresh air in the stale stagnant Rock'nRoll world of the noughties Deadcuts are like a tornado; ripping it all up with their sleazy sonic soundscapes, like a punked-up Psychedelic Furs. Deadcuts are a psyched up primal, tribal and feral howl in the face of mediocrity.

I dunno if the 4 track CD of theirs which I picked up at the gig is their new single or what, but it's well worth tracking down, but while you do that, here's a selection of songs from their soundcloud page for you to Enjoy or Destroy!