The Headhunters, Thrill City and The Dead Shout, Dublin Castle, London 2025, review and photos by Dawn Osborne

Those into the old glam scene, particularly in the Midlands, will remember Gunfire Dance, their immensely cool image, the tragic loss of their first singer and the exquisite way they mixed the energy of Punk with Seventies Rock. So when I heard that Oz on drums and Birchy on bass had a new band out called The Headhunters my ears pricked up. After the glam scene in London died, the Brum scene carried on for another year or two and across that period my friends and I would stay regularly at the Gunfire Dance house in Walsall. At that time I got to know pretty much everyone on that scene including Gary Voodoo who played with bands like Marionette and the Brooklyn Dogs and more recently with the Urban Voodoo Machine and The Dead Shout.

Taking them in order of appearance:

The Dead Shout musically are more rockabilly than glam with a passion for fifties Rock ‘n’ Roll which, of course, was the beginning of the transformation of Black Blues from the USA into Rock. Gary Voodoo on drums at the back has that intense look from the Punk bands of the 70s pioneered by Johnny Rotten and which still survives on the faces of those influenced from that time including Michael Monroe. Gary’s slightly manic look and energetic drum style is a huge part of the visual aspects of The Dead Shout.

They are a three piece with ‘Ed’ (Eddie Edwards) on double bass bringing that Stray Cats feel, as he theatrically threw the enormous instrument around on the tiny stage and took a turn on vocals on ‘Boppin’ n Shakin’. Jack The Goober, with that deadpan Sparks look on guitar and vocals with pictures of Bela Lugosi on his fifties style instrument, makes up the trio.

The most unusual track was mainly instrumental and featuring each member of the band saying in an ethereal way  “She’s so cool she has ice cubes in her pockets” until Goober finished it off by adding the shout “..BUT she ain’t too f’n cool for me”. In ‘Wanted Maniac’ I swear I can hear strains of ‘Follow The Yellow Brick Road’. Make of that what you will.

Thrill City features Cobalt Stargazer (formerly in Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction) who still delivers blistering rock guitar solos effortlessly in every song.

I last saw him playing with Zodiac at HRH. Now, minus the latter, with the other two members of the Love Reaction band Rob ‘Vom’ Morris (Crazyhead) on drums and youngster Laurence ‘The Beast’ on Bass they have a new vocalist Aiden Houston who is an engaging frontman reminding me a little of Electric Six, pioneering geeky chic with his half mast trousers and calling his girlfriend ‘Mum’ mid-set for a bit of a comedic-public-awkward moment.

They certainly manage to build momentum and get the crowd whooping. It’s pretty classic hard rock lifted by Stargazer’s gifted playing and Houston’s humorous clowning around.

Stargazer ran around the audience and played his guitar with his arms around and in front of a female member of the audience as a party trick as they built to the final song. All in all, pretty entertaining.

The Head Hunters are fronted by Jez Miller (Primal Trash, Pleasure Victims) who played with Gunfire Dance back in the day after the original singer Ant committed suicide and who is a seasoned laid back front man. There’s no sign of Jeff ‘Twiggy’ Ward the original guitarist of Gunfire Dance who was reportedly living in Panama. Martyn ‘Nelsta’ Nelson from King Adora completes the line up. Vestiges of their glam past remain in Oz’s matching leopard print drum and stool.

Very much like Gunfire Dance and somewhat due to the heavy hitting drumming of Oz and Birchy’s bass the sound is still heavy and yet melodic, punky, but with a hard rock heart. The similarities to Gunfire Dance are underlined by the ease with which new tracks like ‘You Got Me Hummin’ and ‘Bad Things Come In Twos’ sit alongside original Gunfire numbers like ‘Bird Doggin’ and ‘Blue’ which was dedicated by Ozzy to Ant. I missed ‘Gimme Back My Heart’ and ‘Break It Up’ but I’m just being greedy.

Something which is new, or at least I don’t remember from back in the day.. hey it was a very long time ago.. is that now all four members are great singers allowing them to sing fantastic four way harmonies fleetingly like a Punk Rock Beach Boys during ‘Hummin’ during, about which I also thought to myself this is the Punk Rock bastard son of Free’s ‘You Really Got Me’. From the look of him Nelsta comes from a slightly different heritage, but he really went for it doing his best to replace the irreplaceable Jeff.

Finishing off with covers of Dr Strangeloves’ ‘Night Time’ and The New York Dolls track ‘Chatterbox’ written by Johnny Thunders I thought the line up was still bedding in a bit, not surprisingly as it is so new. Amped up Oz seemed a little impatient to get on with it at times so took over and introduced songs to move things along a little at odds with Jez’s more laid back style. I look forward to seeing the band again when they’re more used to playing together again.

 

It was a bittersweet experience for me as it brought back memories of seeing the band in the old days at the Barrel Organ and so many emotive memories about nights out many moons ago. Over time I am sure that building on the Gunfire Dance heritage, which they should never abandon, the band will forge its new identity further. I was delighted to hear new tracks in the same vein as Gunfire Dance and anything that carries on the band’s legacy is ok by me. By the same token the torch must be carried into the future and the band given the freedom to evolve for the 21st century. Today was a great start!

Dawn Osborne