Driving “over the tops“, for my short journey to Burnley can get a bit hairy at times and tonight is no exception with Hollywood style rain being thrown across the roads like I was at sea, not on a windy country road. With my nose pressed firmly to the windscreen to peer across the impenetrable ink of the night I inch my way closer to Burnley’s rock venue Sanctuary for a dose of hardcore rock/punk and a few other labels.
Speaking of ink it’s the well inked, denim ripped, high socked and white trainer wearing Gothenburg five piece The Last Band that “generally don’t give a fuck”. If you are familiar with any of the band’s tongue in cheek videos from their new album Hisingen you’ll recognise the socks and the lyric too. Sadly for The Last Band most people have feared the wind, rain and freezing cold. This is a massive shame for the venue and the band alike. Please, please support great bands like The Last Band before they all die out. OK what about the show itself?
“Hello Burnley, how you doing?” Coffe Blood (not entirely his real name!) asks after bouncing up and down a couple of times at stage front to warm up. Warming up is something he will talk about later. Let’s not mess about, let’s get straight into it though.
“The Hunt” is the opener: “Come on skinny bitches put your ass on the plate!” This band does not compromise on their lyrical content and the issues therein, nor do they compromise with the tunes. The chorus of this is enough to make you want to do your favourite freak manoeuvre and sing along in unison. This is taken from the band’s second album entitled The Fall. This is the only album that I now don’t have a physical copy of but bet your Christmas socks I will be getting it next time around. Save me a copy guys!
After the massive guitars hooking you in “…the fucking Rhino, the upper class overdose…” of “White Powder”, again from the second album. They begin to explore many of their new tunes and pick one of my favourite songs to go nuts to in the car. “Cleaning House” lulls you into a false sense of security then lifts you up with escalating twin guitars and takes you further with another ridiculously catchy chorus.
A few more tunes and it’s relentless and the entire band is going crazy by now moving around the stage, off the stage, on the bass drum, on the drum stool… you get the picture, it’s going off big style. If you want a boring night then don’t come and see The Last Band – they aren’t going to stop. They are brash, they are loud, powerful and energetic.
The set’s penultimate number is “I Got No Friends” and Burnley are encouraged to bring their friends next time. Last up is the hard hitting and excellent “Muscle & Blood”. The Last Band have played to big crowds and it would have been even better tonight if the stayaway punters would have come out to support their local venue and the underground scene, not to mention being paid back tenfold in quality music.
The irony of Coffe telling us it’s freezing in England isn’t lost on us. Yes it’s cold in Sweden too, he acknowledges. Every member of the band has so much energy, perhaps it’s the high sock and white trainers’ uniform that gives them the bounce and rubber necks. They are fantastic and I implore anyone and everyone to check them out digitally, on record/CD or live. Keep the sharpies away from your daughters though – you never know what will happen.
Photos by Scott Moore
Band Members
- Coffe Blood – Vocals
- Alex Frid- Guitar/Backing Vocals
- Fredrikk Eriksson – Guitar
- Axel Karlsson – Drums/Backing Vocals
- Dennis “Pumpkin” – Bass/Backing Vocals
Set list
- The Hunt
- White Powder
- Cleaning House
- 6 out of 7
- Lights Out
- The Hunt Part 2
- So What
- They Say
- Hisingen
- Still Not in it for the Drugs
- I Got No friends
- Muscle and Blood
The Last Band: official | facebook | instagram | spotify
