We put our eardrums to their sternest test yet with an evening of noise-rock!
We’ve just passed the 31st anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, and it’s safe to say that the much-missed Nirvana frontman would approve heartily of tonight’s bill of noise-mongers at the New Cross Inn. After all, in terms of influences, the four bands are mining the likes of ‘Scentless Apprentice’ infinitely more than a certain deodorant-inspired hit single. Plus, only a fiver a ticket? Have we actually stepped into a time warp back to 1994?!
Occupants are a trio of non-conformists; this much is obvious when we realise that their guitarist is performing minus his shoes. Fuck shoes – they’re so predictable. Oh, and their bassist sometimes plays CHORDS (à la Lemmy); all the better for creating a sound that rumbles like an out-of-control monster truck. There’s some serious guitar abuse going on here too, and if you’d care to imagine the Jesus Lizard’s David Yow fronting a punked-up Kyuss, you wouldn’t be miles away from ‘Introvert (Dig)’ or ‘Relaxer’. So well do the trio gel onstage, you’d swear they were communicating telepathically. Superb.
Luxury Apartments go for a more straight-up punk rock approach, but are still potent as hell, blasting away any remaining mental cobwebs in the crowd. There’s even an element of surf rock to the likes of ‘Animals Eat For Free’ and ‘Life Behind Bars’, although it’s been twisted into something far more sinister-sounding than Dick Dale would have ever recognised. London doesn’t need more luxury apartments, but with sets like this, it absolutely needs more Luxury Apartments. (Cheers – I’ll be here all evening.)
Predeceased take us by surprise – we weren’t expecting things to get so, um, angular and flat-out unhinged. Interlacing their songs with samples, they fearlessly take riffs from the schools of Killing Joke and (yep!) Nirvana, and feed them through a hardcore blender; the results sound so damn huge, they’re irresistible. The guitars on ‘Fake Laugh’ sound like they’re strung with barbed wire, and the rhythm section on ‘Plague Trains’ is seriously seismic; we kind of fear for the New Cross Inn’s foundations. On an evening of very few fucks given, you get the sense that Predeceased give the fewest fucks of anyone present, and for that, we salute them. Check out them out NOW, and thank us later.
Belgian headliners Ronker, on the other hand, look they’re having the most fun, all headbanging away enthusiastically during the opening ‘Professional Facebreaker’. They have quite the sense of humour, but then what would you expect from a band who titled their album ‘Fear Is A Funny Thing, Now Smile Like A Big Boy’? And Is their vocalist/guitarist trying to come across as some kind of doomsday preacher? Whenever he’s not unleashing sonic chaos from his instrument, he’s balancing atop the monitors, gesticulating wildly at us.
That album is excellent, and it sounds even better live; ‘Slow Murder’, in particular, deserves to be greeted with seething pits everywhere it’s played, whilst that stop-start riff from old favourite ‘Shame’ continues to ricochet around our brains long into the next day. It’s a shame that there aren’t more people here to witness it all; suffice to say that all four bands are proof enough that noise-rock is alive, well and thriving in 2025. Cheers to all involved!
All Photos: ALEX GOOSE
Follow Ronker on Their Socials:
Need more Punk In Your Life?
Supersuckers, London New Cross Inn, 10th April 2025
Yes, for the umpteenth time, the Supersuckers are still going! Cynics might say that’s because the veteran Seattle rock n’ roll trio have no plan
The Chords UK, helmed by Chris Pope, release the mammoth 44-track ‘But Then Again: The Best of The Chords UK’
Designed to truly tell the tale of The Chords UK, ‘But Then Again’ is an ambitious and inventive collection, featuring new and previously unreleased tracks,
Ronker, London New Cross Inn, 8th April 2024
We’ve just passed the 31st anniversary of Kurt Cobain’s death, and it’s safe to say that the much-missed Nirvana frontman would approve heartily of tonight’s
Scarborough Punk Festival: Still Punk’s Best Kept Secret
A killer lineup, coastal views, historic setting and one stage of pure punk energy delivering another unforgettable weekend of music, mates, and mayhem – Scarborough
Aerial Salad announce new 5-track 12″ ‘Roi de l’herb’ EP for June release
Manchester punk power-trio Aerial Salad are following last years acclaimed ‘R.O.I.’ album with a brand new 12” EP ‘Roi de l’herb’ to be released June
Album review: Dutch Nuggets – ‘Fishbowl’d!’
It’s skate punk, Jim, but not as we know it. In truth, to saddle Dutch Nuggets with that tag would be to sell them short
I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
Did you know that we are 100% DIY? We run our own game. No one dictates to us, and no one drives what we can or cannot put on our pages – and this is how we plan to continue!
