JANUS STARK WITH KIM NAIL + THE SAMURAI SEVEN1st April 20005 out of 5. Janus Stark frontman Gizz Butt is from Peterborough, hence the good turn out at the gig.  First up were The Samurai Seven, a relatively unknown band, yet with a great sound, coming across as a really melodic pop punk band with Beach Boys style harmonies. But it was Janus Stark people wanted.Gizz Butt may be more famous for being the Prodigy's live guitarist a few years back, but people are now beginning to realise how great this band is. Songs such as "Floyd" and "White Man" came across really well in the small venue, and many songs also featured Kim Nail, a female singer who you may have previously seen doing backing vocals for Marilyn Manson. Obviously they finished the night with "Every Little Thing Counts", which sounded better than ever. Prodigy who? Graham Hopper, Pipeline Finally we get to see Janus Stark again, as they play their first gig this year on 1st April upstairs at The Park, a new venue in their hometown Peterborough. It's also gonna be their first gig with guest vocalist Kim Nail, who used to be in the Marilyn Manson live band. First there's a matinée show at 3pm exclusively for the 'under 18 year olds'. As they are doing the soundcheck I hear for the first time ever one of those new tracks with Kim on vocals and my first reaction is 'wow!'. A very dark, hard sound with beats coming from a sampler, of course loads of guitar and then there is a fantastic front woman Kim doing vocals. And it's, er, VERY different from what we know by Janus Stark so far. As they are getting ready for the gig Gizz is wearing some doctor's coat... Anyway, as the doors open at 4pm for the 'under 18s' performance there Gizz goes on stage with his doctor's coat and after they've played the first track, Clique, he talks to the kids: "You're not children, you're specimens. For my experiments later on. The first experiment is you gotta go into the middle of this room and jump up and down" The kids sit on their chairs, don't move and stare at the band as if they were aliens. "And I saw you there talking during the song! You didn't come here to talk!" goes Shop. "I have to tell your dad!" "I know your dad", then Gizz to the 7 year olds, "he goes to the same stripclub as I do." They play a quite short set which includes 2 new songs with Kim on vocals, just in front of about 10 people standing at the back. Even in front of this lame audience you can see what a great frontwoman Kim is, getting completely into the songs while Gizz can put his full attention to the guitar, which makes the sound even heavier. The show is finished soon though ("You can continue with your shopping now") and shortly afterwards the bassplayer of Samurai Seven falls down the stairs and can't move anymore and it looks as if he has broken his leg. As we leave the venue I wonder if he's gonna play the gig at all. After some more drinking and other stuff it soon is 9pm and we go to the venue again where Samurai Seven, the support band, are already playing. Yes, also the bassplayer, sitting on a chair. They are quite good, playing some 'melodic rock' or however you wanna call it. Gizz meanwhile has to get the attention of everyone as he takes some life size doll and walks around with it on his shoulders until the security tell him "This is dangerous!" (Yeh, right!) But now the stage gets set up for Janus Stark and the club looks really really full now!! Not like at the afternoon gig with 10 people, no, now in the eve there's loads of people there! An April fool comes on stage and announces that Janus Stark are not going to play, it was all just a fool..... right...!Of course it is and soon after you can see them storming the stage, Gizz again with his doctor's coat. They start the set with "Clique" and then "Black Box". The audience is going absolutely mad! People are jumping, moshing and crowdsurfing, its brilliant! Gavin King, the second guitarist, is also here tonight "to add some punkrock" as Gizz says. Next they play "Ok Chicane", White Man Speaks with Fork Tongue" and "Enemy Lines". Now Kim Nail comes on stage for two brand new tracks called "Bruises Blue" and "Girls wanna have fuzz". And the new stuff is just soooo different from the old stuff! There's heavy samples with beats and even more guitar from Gizz plus Kim doing an amazing job as frontwoman, not only with an amazing voice, but also being a superb performer! While you know the older Janus Stark songs as sort of 'happy punky pop' this is now completely different, very dark and heavy, but in my opinion amazing. They are not just trying to be loud and heavy, no, the new songs also show excellent songwriting skills behind them and are arranged perfectly. My comment: 'Wow!' Kim leaves the stage again and they play "Floyd" and "Panic Attack", 2 tracks from the album Great Adventure Cigar and half of the audience is singing along. Next, with Kim again, "Catholic", a song which has been played before but now with Kim on vocals. This is followed by a new track called "Roll over and lie down". Next two well-known tracks, first "Barriers", and for once NOT the acoustic version, followed by "Personality Breakdown, that song from the film Whatever happened to Harold Smith where Janus Stark play a punk band. A song from last year called "Birth Of a Nation" gets played, but it has been reworked and has now Kim on vocals as well! Another brand new track ("Clues Wrong" or something like that) with Kim on vocals follows before they then end the gig with "Every Little Thing Counts". Wahey!! Brilliant! This, my dear readers, was definitely the best Janus Stark gig I have ever seen! From Nekozine, which has several photos of both gigs. |