In the mid-'90s, following a shift of allegiance from rock and metal to Oasis and Britpop, I began investigating some of the 'older' bands I saw mentioned in interviews and articles in the NME. My initial explorations led me to the Madchester scene of the early '90s, and, thanks to name checks by the likes of the Gallagher brothers, I ended up getting into The Stone Roses, The Charlatans, The Happy Mondays and Primal Scream. I wasn't keen on all the Primals' stuff, but I really liked 'Screamadelica'. It was a bit more inventive than other music I was listening to at the time and I loved the production on tracks like "Slip Inside This House" and "Higher Than The Sun".
Later, during my year out before going to university, I started looking for music that was a bit more left-field, just as Primal Scream released the 'Vanishing Point' album. My inexperienced teenage ears were more accustomed to Cast and The Bluetones than the industrial beats of first single "Kowalski", which seemed like it came from another planet. It was the less experimental "Star" that hooked me though. I loved the melodica part and the dubby bass line, even if the lyrics were a bit lame. Bobby Gillespie had seemingly tried to turn a Top Shop Che Guevara t-shirt into a song, with sixth form clichés about revolution. The lyrical nadir came with the LOL worthy suggestion that, although "Sister Rosa's ... body may be gone, her spirit still lives on". Even though she was alive and well at the time. Didn't matter, it was still ace.
I eventually bought 'Vanishing Point and it was one of the records me, Mike and Suggy bonded over during Novacain's first year together. It made frequent appearances on the stereo in Mike's red Fiesta on journeys to gigs, with opening track "Burning Wheel" being a strong favourite, and we were all excited when a tour was announced for April 2000 to promote follow-up album 'XTRMNTR'. I wasn't that impressed with lead single "Swastika Eyes" (I thought it sounded like an attempt to rewrite "Kowalski" so it sounded more like naff ravetastic anthem "Ebeneezer Goode") but initial reports about 'XTRMNTR' were positive, and I was particularly interested to hear that it would include a collaboration with Kevin Shields, having recently got into My Bloody Valentine.
Novacain rarely socialised as a whole band; Lee and Winny had long-term girlfriends and jobs while me, Mike and Suggy were single students. I tried to address this by inviting everyone to see Dark Star at the Cockpit in March, but Win pulled out at the last minute. We all managed to make it to Primal Scream though, along with our mate Gibbsy. I wanted to watch support act Invasian, who'd been compared in the press to Asian Dub Foundation, a favourite band of mine, Mike and Sug's, but the novelty of all the members of Novacain actually being on a night out together meant that we ended up staying in the Dry Dock for longer than I'd hoped. It sounds a touch cheesy, but the experience of seeing live music was (is) enough of a high for me so I didn't really like getting drunk before shows. This wasn't a view shared by Gibbsy and Suggy... The pair of them had taken to drinking gin around this time and they knocked back several measures of widow's ruin within minutes of us getting to the Dock. After an hour or so Gibbsy went to the bar to get a final round in before we left for the Town and Country and, as he was quite pissed by now, managed to drop one of the gins when he got back. I remember this clearly because the tumbler landed square in the middle of our table and absolutely disintegrated. Tiny shards of glass sprayed out across the front of the pub and hit everyone within a 10ft radius. They also landed in our drinks and proved impossible to completely fish out so we made an early exit, getting dirty looks from the other customers as we left.
We got to the venue just before Primal Scream began their set. The place was pretty full but we managed to find a decent spot in the middle of the crowd, behind the mixing desk. While we were waiting, a guy came round with a petition which asked for the release of Satpal Ram, a British Asian man who'd been imprisoned for murder in the 1980s. According to Ram he was acting in self-defence against a racist attack and his cause was taken up, first by Asian Dub Foundation, who included the (ace) track "Free Satpal Ram" on their album 'Rafi's Revenge', and then by Primal Scream. I felt strongly that Ram should be released and remember giving Gibbsy a lecture when he signed the petition with a comedy false name.
The Primals began their set with "Swastika Eyes" and proceeded to play pretty much all of, the at the time unreleased, 'XTRMNTR'. In fact "Burning Wheel" was the only song to make it into the first hour of the show that wasn't from 'XTRMNTR'. The new tunes seemed decent but it would have been better to mix them up with a few older tracks and the crowd became restless as a result. At one point a pint glass was thrown on stage and Bobby Gillespie walked off. When the rest of the band realised he wasn't coming back they followed him, to a chorus of boos. Eventually Mani persuaded Gillespie to come back out and the band at last played some songs we knew, including "Rocks", "Jailbird" and "Higher Than The Sun". Despite the pint throwing incident the Primals played two encores; "Medication" and "Movin On Up" (during which Gibs lifted me up by my legs so I could see over the crowd) for the first and a cover of "Kick Out The Jams" by the MC5 to end.
When I saw the Super Furry Animals at the T and C the previous October I'd bought a t-shirt from a guy who was selling them outside. It was miles too big and, after a few washes, the pattern started flaking off so I vowed never to buy bootleg merch again. As a result, after the Primals I went to the official stall inside the venue and spent, what seemed like a ridiculous amount of money at the time, on a grey t-shirt, featuring the 'XTRMNTR' cover art on the front. Mike then went outside and got both a cool sand coloured bootleg tee and a massive "Swastika Eyes" poster for a fiver. Years later Mike still wore his shirt, while mine was swiftly relegated to the back of the wardrobe. Balls.
The "Swastika Eyes" poster Mike bought came with us when we set up a recording studio in 2004 and, reader, it is still there, brightening up the corridor. OMG!!!
Set list (Primal Scream)
- Swastika Eyes
- Shoot Speed/Kill Light
- Pills
- Burning Wheel
- If They Move, Kill 'Em
- Insect Royalty
- Keep Your Dreams
- Kill All Hippies
- Exterminator
- Blood Money
- Rocks
- Kowalski
- Accelerator
- Jailbird
- Higher Than The Sun Encore 1
- Medication
- Movin' On Up Encore 2
- Kick Out The Jams
No comments:
Post a Comment