Gig Reviews: The Lams/The Rocks/The Roolettes/Electricity Comes From Other Planets @ Rhythm Factory, Whitechapel (26th September 2003)

by Andy Francis

They have been advertising this night as a late night rock n roll party, and you can sense something chaotic and wild about the place. Maybe it’s the monsoon-like downpour outside, or the bizarre collections of haircuts, leather and denim, but whatever it is there’s definitely something in the air tonight. The bands and the audience are all running late, noone seems to mind – or even notice – but when the music does start, the wait is instantly forgotten. Opening act, Electricity Comes From Other Planets, possess not only the wildest drummer in London, but also a killer collection of songs. There’s something of The Wildhearts about them, but they have an ear for a catchy pop hook too, which comes through especially in songs such as “She’s a clone” and “Go away”. Electricity Came From The Stage tonight.

Next came The Roolettes, half English, half Italian and fully rock n roll. They appear able to sneer and smile at the same time, as they blitz their way through 25 minutes of wild eyed, sweaty punk. They blast their way through each song as though their lives depend on it, with roaring solos from guitarist Ed and shouting and spitting from bassist Fio, while drummer Jimmy appears hell bent on destruction as his kit disintegrates through the course of the perfomance, ending up with him falling off his stool mid-song. You can feel the influence of The Ramones in the short, sharp, shocks of each song, mixed with the topless chaos of The Parkinsons, but there’s something fun about The Roolettes, as the audience dance and scream like teenagers when they crash to the end of their set. Excellent.

With barely a pause to let the sweat clear, The Rocks take to the stage to much applause. It takes them, and the audience, a few songs to get into it, as they stumble across the stage searching for the energy of the previous band. But half way through, they find their groove. Conjuring up a punk atmosphere with disco bass lines and a cocky, charismatic frontman , The Rocks fire off songs like "Everybody In The Place" & "We Got It". Singer James stumbles through the audience as fans try to join in the vocals, creating a very drunk, very punk, version of karaoke. Perhaps they practice being this chaotic, perhaps not, but they have to work hard to convince the audience tonight. They manage it, but style is sometimes not as important as substance.

The clock is well past midnight when The Lams hit the stage. Singer/Guitarist Mark kicks them off into a series of catchy punk songs, all weighing in around 2 or 3 minutes, and still displaying the pop sensibilites he showed when he was a Senseless Thing. The Lams sound is distinctively compact and un-fussy, but as a 3-piece they each have to work hard to keep the momentum and power of the sound intact. Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s the time, maybe it’s the drink, but the band have their work cut out tonight. The thing that helps them through is Mark’s limitless enthusiasm and between song ramblings, combined with a defiant desire to rock. They unleash everything from punk to disco to thrash to bubblegum pop and you can see in the diversity of The Lams sound, a potential for bigger and much better things.

London seems to pride itself on it’s cutting edge music scene, and often there’s a tendency to think it’s not always justified, but with 4 bands like this on the same bill, there’s a sense that the future is in very safe hands. If chaos and punk class was a currency, this night was worth a million.