You know what is a tad bit annoying? If a great band of that you believe it is really great only ever draws small crowds when it visits your humble home town. The Swingin’ Utters are one of these and one of me mates was so determined to get an as large as possible crowd for them that he printed 200 flyers and distributed them ahead of the show – at own cost. Did it help? 50 tickets went out prior to the show, at then end the Hafenklang at least was not empty but also not packed at all, damn!
First on toyGuitar and someone in the know mentioned “… half of Swingin’ Utters is in there but i’d rather wish that Johnny would drag Druglords of the Avenue along on the road“. Whilst both parts of the statement are true Toy Guitar from the first moment on made the audience listen. Why? Not only because of the surprise drumming (that was less the girl behind the drums, i’ll fill you in later) but specifically the almost perfect blend of fast paced pop. Thrown in was a scent of Surf and sure an undercut of punk rock. Wow – stunning. A lot of smiling and surprised faces in the audience! I was so taken left field that i did not take a quick video, something that i regret so much.
And what was special about the drumming? It was only snare, bass and floor tom – and that and the style of drumming create something special, reduced to the bone and just puuuurrrfect. Their record is now mine and it is also a great piece of pop music in the best and literate sense of it. Stunning! And a surprise!
Next on Swingin’ Utters and they kicked off with “Brand New Lungs” from their 2011 effort:
And that was the theme for the evening: Johnny screamed, banged and the band did drive, drive and fucking drive. I have seen them now many times and they are not only the ones i would recon to be “always tight to the max” but also giving, giving … and then some more. And, frank, on my 16th birthday in 1980 is saw Stiff Little Fingers and they did blow me away for many years (and their early records even more) but they have been super-seeded now by them Utters: I would call the legitimate successors (and, sorry to say, that is too because SLF nowadays are not really … hot). So listen for yerself!
And true to their style they came back with actually a couple of encores, one better then the other i would dare to say!
Sure thing “The Dirty Sea” was added too, one of my “loveliest” songs ever:
And then they came back one last time to give it all and finish a great show:
And drumming? Besides being late on stage for the start the drummer of the Utters had one item that made him “stand out”: Check out how he jumps up from his stool almost out of rhythm – that was so funny to watch!
And why is drumming so important?
So what are the cold facts? toyGuitar are a might pop force. Period. The Swingin’ Utters do deserve a so much larger audience. Fact. So next time please come around, you will be treated class with some extras thrown it. Ain’t that worth it?