It must be getting on for 14 years since I last set foot in The Underworld. I used to come here regularly in a past life, so it was bloody marvellous to be back. And what better excuse for a return than a special night celebrating “10 years of Fuzz” – Yur Mum’s ten-year anniversary of “live performances, DIY records and love for the underground”.
Yur Mum were joined for the evening by their good mates Healthy Junkies, with Wonk Unit topping the bill. There must have been half a dozen photographers in the pit, so at least if none of my pictures came out, I might have been able to buy a few decent snaps off one of them.
First up were the Healthy Junkies, warming things up for us with “Julie’s Got a Job” and “Self Conscious” before cranking the volume up a few notches with “This Is Not A Suicide”. Nina was on form from the start, throwing herself around the stage, over the stage, and, at one point, apparently deciding that the drumkit was also part of the stage.
“Son and a Daughter” gave us a chance to chill out for a minute with its reggae vibe – I did love this one – before things gradually descended into the sort of carnage that seemed to happen whenever Nina and a guitar occupied the same piece of floor.
And then, all too soon, their set was over.
Time for tonight’s star attraction:
Yur Mum blasted into “Crazy” and immediately brought to my mind Tank (who remembers Algy Ward?) without the finesse, but with much higher-pitched screaming. And I really did love Tank. Any kind of metal/punk crossover with Brazilian bells on totally did it for me.
With only two people on stage, there was nowhere for Fabio or Anelise to hide. Which was just as well, because hiding was very definitely not what they did. They full-on scrambled your eardrums, and then ground them into the floor.
“What Do You Want”, “New Beginnings”, “Sweat Shop” and “Tropical Fuzz” all received the Anelise and Fabio sledgehammer treatment, with barely any respite at all. Then Phil and Nina joined them for “Je Ne Sais Pas”, before they topped the whole bloody thing off with a murderous rendition of “Say Say”.
And that left us all reeling, but somehow still begging for more.
How could you possibly follow that? Well, you got Wonk Unit to come on stage and finish you off for an hour and a half is what you did.
It must have been getting on for 20 years since I last saw Wonk Unit (I’m sounding really old in this, I know), and I couldn’t say I recognised the band that I saw back then. But I had a feeling that not many others in the crowd did either, since tonight they were down to a foursome, with Alex Wonk joined by regulars Pwosion on bass and Vez on keyboards – for the last time?? – along with Alesha behind the drums.
Alex assured us that Alesha was going to nail it. And she did.
One of the great things about Wonk Unit was that if you didn’t like a song, it wasn’t really a problem, because in about two minutes it’d be over and they’d be onto the next one. Luckily, they didn’t play songs you didn’t like. Wonk Unit were proper DIY punk masters. Alex put his voice on the line with every single number, and by the end I had absolutely no idea how he could even talk, let alone sing.
“What’s next?” asked Alex after most of the songs. The answer wasn’t immediately obvious, because Alesha had the only setlist, and nobody else could see it. So Alex ordered each member of the band to take it in turns to go over to Alesha, find out what the next song was, and then come back and introduce it. “Strength. Oh yeh, I love this song,” remembered Alex.
And off they went again.
I honestly can’t remember all the songs they played. There were so many. Alex steered us through “Horses”, “Go Easy”, “Los Angeles” and “Bin Him”, and made Vez do the Nan poem, along with loads more. It was all pure Wonk Unit.
And it was wonderful.
Thanks for an amazing evening Fabio and Anelise. Here’s to the next 10 years.
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Words / photos by grillyx