| Kerrang! |
Live |
| 19 August 2000 |
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Camden Monarch, London
Monday July 31
KKKKK
Former Scot-rock kings sneak back onto the scene
Remember Baby Chaos? One of our finest home grown bands in the mid-'9Os, the Scots never split as such - instead spending years regenerating themselves changing the name a couple of times and finding a new record deal with US label Reprise.
Tonight the quartet are back in the same line-up, as Deckard, sporting regulation black T-shirts and short blond barnets. They are the second act on a three-band bill, with a great deal of ground to regain. This they do in no uncertain terms, regaling us with quality tuneage from the new album "Stereodreamscene" which was released a month ago in America.
"Christine" is the first doozy out of the traps a rocking, up-tempo trip inside the brain of someone considering the pros and cons of undergoing a sex-change operation. As Baby Chaos regularly fell victim to technical gremlins, it's no surprise when guitarist Grant McFarlane's instrument gives up the ghost, but the power is barely diminished. Afterwards, frontman Chris Gordon chides him for 'having the volume turned down'.
Gordon looks older but considerably wiser, and his voice is many times stronger than before, demonstrating a range that goes all the way up from a soulful roar to Radiohead-ian peaks. He also has an incredible presence these days, scanning the crowd with narrowed, reptilian eyes as he sings, sweat dribbling down his face and his neck-veins like tent ropes. To his right, bassist Bobby Dunn does a more than passable impression of a flea on a pogo stick.
The songs are more melodic and less riffy than Baby Chaos' often bludgeoning bile, but equally potent and certainly more likely to score mainstream success, "Still" drifts on an ABBA-esque melody; "Conversation" marries raunched-up guitar with a killer hook; and the upbeat "Today Is A New Chapter" recalls classic Chaos, The jewel in the crown, however is "Once There Was A Girl" which is a simply blinding collision of pop and rock.
There's got to be a punchline to all this, right? Well yes indeed - Deckard remain unsigned in the UK. Ho, and indeed, ho...
Jason Arnopp |
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