Live Review - Wired Up! London Book Launch

Wired Up! London Book Launch
The Buffalo Bar, Highbury, Friday September 21 2012


Down again into the depths of the Buffalo Bar thrummed the heavy boots, beating the tattoo of a perfect 4/4 tramp, down into the packed and sweaty basement we journeyed for the launch of the hottest pictorial chronicle of 70s sounds around - Wired Up!- to thrill to the rumble of the band on a Friday night.

Possibly the only room in the UK where everyone was au fait with the names of Cock Sparrer and Hector (the latter of which were apparently originally mooted to appear live, but took a proud solace in looking rather amazingly pleased in the crowd), the night kicked off with some splendid DJ sets from one of the organisers of the evening- Tim Orchard - and purveyor of the Purepop blog Robin Wills spinning some awesomely obscure glam, before Leeds’ Cyanide Pills took to the stage. Touting a raw energy channelled through a disaffected powerpop aesthetic, these guys got the room warmed up with neat, stripped down three-chord attacks and a lot of moving around, giving everyone just enough time to catch their breath before the main act.

Italy’s own Giuda delivered a bone-crunchingly heavy sub-punk thwack to the jaw, taking in influences as (ahem) diverse as powerpop, pub rock, and glam, and spitting them out into a tight, crowd-pleasing set of vibrant pummelling stompers. Having seen this group on their previous visit to these shores, I can confidently say that they’re one to watch - their LP is due for release any moment now. A rousing encore from them at the insistence of the audience led us into a night of dancing/rhythmically punching the air/doing dreadful but wildly enthusiastic attempts at the Tiger Feet dance at the hands of the DJs.

Although copies of the actual book were scarce (in a blink-and-they’re-gone style) due to ‘import difficulties’, the bands more than made up for it with a dazzling display of merchandise- the Giuda badges are particular things of beauty that this reviewer, at least, will regret not buying for a long time to come.


Thogdin Ripley