Music / Metal
Review: Terrorvision, SWX
The last time Terrorvision (denizens of the Peoples’ Republic of Bradford) were in town they were part of the Britrock Must be Destroyed package that delighted a rammed Motion. This time out they’re headlining and performing their second LP How to Make Friends and Influence People in full. Said album arguably helped them breach the mainstream: count ‘em, five top thirty singles when things like that mattered.
Although massively popular with the metal crowd, TV were never (and still aren’t) your typical metal band. They may have been initially championed by that scene; they may know their way around bone crushing riffs and screamingly tasteful solos, but they always used metal tropes as just one element of their sound. And they like to playfully confound rock tropes too. Case in point – their walk on music. I Like to Move It by Reel to Reel. No word of a lie, every bugger in the house was singing and bouncing along with it as the band took to the stage, resplendent in silver.
is needed now More than ever
How to Make Friends and Influence People was then delivered in full and in sequence (with the obvious exception of the so-called Hidden Track after final cut What Makes You Tick). Alice What’s the Matter was frighteningly heavy, the crowd word perfect and the whole place heaving, band and crowd as one. Oblivion was perfect: euphoric and poptastic whilst Stop The Bus was heavy and poptastic, and as quirkily irresistible as ever. Discotheque Wreck simply detonated. As for the rest of the album?
Well, it’s often the case that albums played in full can be a bit of a curate’s egg. In the olden days it’s fair to say bands cherry picked tunes because some album tracks didn’t lend themselves to live performance, or were, perhaps, more experimental or suited to home listening only. And some tunes were frankly just filler. Fortunately, How to Make Friends and Influence People is eminently suited to live performance – the non-singles as strong as the singles – and providing a fabulous contrast to the chart tunes. And of course, like all decent albums back in the days of vinyl, it was sequenced to deliver a 45-minute aural experience.
After the final track, the band left the stage generating a huge roar for more, and a sweaty rush to the bar and the toilets (we all knew the show was only half done). Sure enough the band were back on, a further half dozen or so tunes heralded by a fat free and delightfully short, sharp drum solo. A mix of new (Demolition Song from comeback LP Super Delux) and old (three cuts from debut Formaldahyde, received with word perfect rapture). A mix of deeper album cuts (Dog Chewed the Handle & If I Was You from Regular Urban Survivors) and crossover hits (Tequilla, natch). Oh, and M25 rave meets mental metal bangers (D’Ya Wanna Go Faster). And of course, singalong paeans to transgender romance (Josephine).
The band returned for just one final blast – Perseverance – its message of environmental doom now seems more like the latest news rather than a combined prophecy and warning. Show over, band grinning, sweaty and spent; crowd grinning, super sweaty and sated. The band’s walk off music was ideal too: Nobody Does it Better, and it’s true, nobody does a better job of delivering an earworm packed danceable pop / rave / metal riff fest like this band. They’ve got the tunes, they’ve got the energy, they’ve got the chops and they clearly have a whale of a time blasting out their oeuvre.
The band still have the following and they clearly have a massive desire to play. Let’s hope they’re back soon and let’s also hope they find some time to lay down some new material. There’s no doubt their strongest card is their ability to conjure up hefty, catchy danceable tunes that make you feel fan-fucking-tastic. And couldn’t we all use a lot more of that feeling right now? blah.
Terrorvision: SWX: Friday, 03 March 2019
All pix by Shona Cutt
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