Punk Mavericks The Hip Priests Bring Anarchy and Unadulterated Punk to The Black Heart!

Hot off the release of their ballsy and raw new album ‘Roden House Blues’, the Hip Priests took to the stage at the iconic Black Heart in Camden to a packed audience of die-hard fans.

The Black Heart is a bit of a rock’n’roll institution long having been a pivotal part of the Camden music scene and it was a fitting venue for this bunch of die-hard punk rebels!

With support from Fantazmaz, fronted by the Brazilian dynamo Thamilla Zenthofer. A woman who’s a formidable force and a band surely on the way to big things! With Zenthofer’s powerful voice, each track was dominated with her grunge laden gritty vocal that had the audience transfixed as she commanded the room!

As the priests tore into their opening track, ‘The Best Revenge’ a balls to the wall rip roaring tune, the venue erupted!! They were a relentless force of pure punk energy from the very first roaring guitar sound! With wide-eyed singer Nathan Von Cruz on vocals, all swagger and punk attitude, The Priests were on fire! With Axe-wielding maniac Austin Rocket on Guitar and backing vocals, Rickenbacker clad Lee Love on Bass and backing vocals, ‘Gentle’ Ben Healey on Guitar (a man who does not live up to his name), and the relentless powerhouse Des Bomber on Drums, they tore up the stage going full throttle from the get go!

Every track was fast and furious, a maniacal yet glorious blend of defiant powerful vocals, each song carefully crafted with politically driven and blindingly clever lyrics accompanied by screaming guitars and Bombers relentless drum sound.

Tracks like ‘Pissed on Power’ about braindead evil Eton boys drunk on power, oblivious to everything around them and how people fall for them, perfectly captured the essence of punks’ anti-establishment spirit.

One of the absolute highlights of the night had to be the storming ‘Sonic Reproducer’, off The Priests second album ‘Full Tilt Bullshit’, where Rocket and Love got down on the floor surrounded by an ecstatic audience, on their knees, guitars in hand in a magnificent display of punk rock theatrics.

Their new track, ‘If You Can’t Join Us, Beat Us’ was raw and unapologetic with gritty lyrics that give the finger in the face of indifference and adversity!  Vital and visceral as Von Cruz whipped the crowd into a crazed frenzy.

One of the best tracks of the night was ‘Get By’, a song that speaks from the heart about how we’re all intrinsically flawed and imperfect, yet most of us are at least trying do as well as we can’, heartfelt and punky as hell!

One of the things that always strikes me about The Priests is the beautiful dynamic that they have with their fans, there is an obvious affection between them, there is no them and us, more a case of we’re in this together. They are the voice of a disenfranchised society, screaming the words that so many long to say, a band that brings people together, the epitome of raw unadulterated punk. Their music may be fast and furious but their lyrics and the inspiration behind them has never been more relevant!

Perhaps the question has to be, why is that a band so good and so punk are not getting more recognition on the UK festival circuit? As a package they really do have it all, yet somehow they are so often overlooked by UK festival promoters! Something that is a great injustice to UK fans who are missing out on a thrilling rollercoaster ride of true, no holds barred punk!!

Words and photos by Louise Phillips

Setlist:

Best Revenge
Juiced Up ‘N’ Loose
Tiger in My Tank
Stand for Nothing
Cheers to Me
Instant Delinquent
Shakin’ Ain’t Fakin’
If You Can’t Join Us, Beat Us’
Pissed On Power
Just to Get By
Can’t Abide With Me
Sonic Reproducer

Photos of The Hip Priests

Photos of Fantazmaz