Swingin' Utters, The Pipeline, London

The Swingin’ Utters are a San Francisco mainstay, bringing their folk influenced street punk sounds to our collective consciousness’ since the late 1980s with anger and integrity and returning from a lengthy hiatus in 2010 refreshed to throw themselves into regular touring and the subsequent recording of three albums. The third of these, Fistful of Hollow, was released in December – meaning a tour was bound to be in the offing sooner rather than later. The London date of this tour fell on a cold Friday night in March, but of course not too cold to brave a couple of street beers before the event. We got into the venue in time to see In Evil Hour, whose gravel-voiced, gothic tainted punk rock in the vein of the Nerve Agents or a much gnarlier version of early AFI quickly draws interested early arrivals to the front. The venue itself is in a roomy basement hidden in the depths of a warren-like building, with the upstairs bar kicking out Cock Sparrer and Ramones tunes to get the punters in the right frame of mind. In Evil Hour go all out with a set of violently tuneful songs and a singer with a much larger stage presence than her small frame.

With everyone’s ears and livers suitably warmed, Swingin’ Utters/One Man Army side project ToyGuitar hit the stage and launch into a set of garagey fuzzed out pop punk. Oozing with energy, there is an edge to their live set not conveyed by their recordings and, like In Evil Hour beforehand, I would highly recommend checking them out. The summery vibes evoked by jangling guitar chords and harmonies somehow didn’t sound out of place on a cold spring night in London and the quickly filling room showed how much word of mouth about these guys is spreading. After a short break and a possibly ill-advised addition of spirits to my night’s intake, the Swingin’ Utters hit the stage with Miles Peck and Jack Dalrymple still looking amped despite the previous set’s exertions. The Utters are a band with a commanding presence, in no small part due to singer Johnny Bonnel’s on-stage contortions and furious renditions of the songs for which he takes lead vocal. Even when another member is at the vocal forefront, he is likely to be moving as much as any of the happy drunkards dancing and shouting every word down the front. Classics such as ‘Next in Line’ and ‘No Eager Men’ are peppered throughout a set heavy on material from the new album – which, luckily, is banging, with the songs performed last night already sounding firmly entrenched as live favourites.

As the last chords of the encore die down, I can’t imagine anyone not leaving with a smile on their face. The night sums up the variety and innovation which can be found within the punk scenes, all three bands with their own distinct sound but complimenting each other perfectly. A good sound and venue is the icing on a scuzzy cake, so if you didn’t catch this show then I highly recommend checking out the Pipeline!