It may sound like we’ve stumbled upon a Comicon event by mistake, but rest assured there’s no dressing up or role playing here this weekend as fans of the music of Kirk Brandon gather on their yearly pilgrimage to pay homage to their musical hero.
For the uninitiated, Kirk Brandon was the lead singer and powerforce behind the post punk bands Theatre Of Hate and Spear Of Destiny, and although in the grand scheme of things, these bands never made a huge impact on the world music scene, they had a unique sound and style that set them apart and thus attracted a loyal cult following that stays strong to this day.
Currently, Kirk is touring with Spear Of Destiny to promote the release of the double album “Janus” a reworking of the 1987 album Outland and the follow up from 1988 The Price You Pay, but tonight is all about the Westworld community that has grown up around these bands and Kirks other projects.
Friday night
FRIDAY NIGHT
Friday night was the Theatre Of Hate night and opening up were Anglo-Irish duo Dead Raze. They played a fast paced rock and roll that is rooted in the garage punk of the likes of The Stooges but merge that with rock-a-billy gusto. They’ve been making waves across Europe and certainly ones to watch, the two piece band seems to be back in fashion again at the moment, hopefully they can capitalise on that and get their music out to a wider audience.
Following that up is the rejuvenated and reunion of 90’s dark rock outfit Dollface Now with “Reunion” tagged on the end of their name, the band has its roots trailing back to the 80’s iconic bands of New Model Army and Sex Gang Children and they released their album Giant 30 years ago which they given the re-mastered treatment and released a 30th anniversary edition.
Frontman Adrian Portas has a striking presence on stage and is revelling in this resurgence of his band. He cut his teeth with the aforementioned bands before striking out on his own, unfortunately the album was released in the midst of Britpop so was never fully appreciated. Looking back and hearing these tunes now it stands the test of time and is a band that deserves more recognition.
The songs have that post punk indie rock aesthetic, reminding me of the likes of The Mighty Lemon Drops and early Charlatans. Who knows, if they had been based in Manchester at that time they might have been massive! Definitely go check out the remastered version of Giant
So onto the main attraction and the band that bought this enigmatic singer/songwriter to the publics attention. After cutting his teeth with the punk band The Pack Kirk formed Theatre Of Hate with long time wingman Stan Stammers on bass and a relatively unknown young guitarist Billy Duffy and drummer Nigel Preston who would both go on to huge success with The Cult. A twist to Brandon's sound was the addition of a saxophone, something that has stayed throughout ToH and SoD.
Tonight Kirk still has Stammers on bass, and the songs are still as potent as ever. The set is is quite comprehensive, the original ToH was fairly short lived, but the songs that came from that period still get the pit going. 50+ old blokes (and some women I may add!) doing that 80’s ‘wrecking’ style pit that that was the precursor to todays moshpits, it got so wild at one point, I ended up with a rather large bloke virtually in my lap!
Whatever your favourite ToH track is, it was on the list. Brandon should be recognised as one of our finest song writers from that period. Songs like The Klan, Conquistador and Original Sin are sublime, but it’s the big tracks of Do You Believe In The Westworld and Propaganda that take the frenzy to another level!
What a way to celebrate the 21st edition of this gathering, and we get to do it all again tomorrow!
Saturday Afternoon
Although we couldn’t make it for the afternoon shenanigans we were informed that the quiz, acoustic session from Kirk and a talk about his new book went down well
SATURDAY NIGHT
After a hot, sweaty and very enjoyable night we headed back to KK’s for night two of Westworld, where it promised to be even more explosive!
The night began sedately enough with a set of acoustic tunes from John Watts, the mad mastermind behind the wonderful “Fischer-Z” a project that garnered a lot of interest back in the early 80s and who worked on many collaborations with some of the big names of that period. Tonight Watts plays some of his solo stuff along with a couple of Fischer-Z songs, a nice gentle way to get the crowd warmed up.
And if you weren’t suitably warmed up and in the mood the Richard Jobson and his cohorts in The Skids were about to change that. Formed in the sweltering heat of ‘77 and in the maelstrom of the punk rock wave that was sweeping across the country, The Skids found themselves suddenly transported from the sleepy Scottish town of Dunfermline and onto our screens on TOTP as their single Into The Valley had hit the top 10!
Today it’s just Jobson left from the original line-up but the energy and punk attitude is till there, and if I’m honest, this was my highlight of the weekend. ToH and SoD were Tony’s but I was in awe of Jobson and Adamson on that TV screen as a young impressionable teen and that has stayed with me. Jobson looks good for a 64 year old, and he bounces around stage like a Duracell bunny on steroids. His voice is strong and we get all the hits and more, Into The Valley is there of course, along with Charade, Working For The Yankee Dollar and “Masquerade”
Jobson loves to chat between songs and is very funny, but despite his humorous digs at his dearly departed friend, you can see the emotion in his face as he talks about Adamson, a great loss to us all. The spine tingling rendition of The Saints Are Coming is a special moment and a moment that will stay with me. A night to remember, and also a reminder that these bands had great songs that still sound great today.
The weekend had been a wonderful gathering of like-minded souls and it was about to culminate in the form of Brandon and his Spear Of Destiny. After the disbanding of ToH it didn’t take Brandon long to gather some more musical icons around him to bring his new project Spear Of Destiny to the masses.
Tonight sees a deep dive into the bands archives and a real mix of tunes. The reworked and reimagined tracks like Outland show the depth and imagination of Brandon, whilst the anthemic Liberator get the crowd dancing in that typical 80’s frenzy.
Again, Brandon’s songwriting is second to none with songs like You Never Take Me Alive, Pumpkin Man and Embassy Song he really is one of the most underrated writers of our generation, his songs are deep, thoughtful and full of emotion. Tony is visibly moved when the opening chords of the powerful anti-war ballad Mickey begin. You can see why there is this close knit community that has grown up around the work of this artist.
So ends another Westworld Weekender as the chants of Liberator ring out around KK’s, and no doubt he will be back again next year (I think this is the fourth time the weekend has been held at KK’s and it seems to be a favourite!)
Brandon and Spear Of Destiny are currently touring the UK in support of the album Janus
The weekend had been a wonderful gathering of like-minded souls and it was about to culminate in the form of Brandon and his Spear Of Destiny. After the disbanding of ToH it didn’t take Brandon long to gather some more musical icons around him to bring his new project Spear Of Destiny to the masses.
Tonight sees a deep dive into the bands archives and a real mix of tunes. The reworked and reimagined tracks like Outland show the depth and imagination of Brandon, whilst the anthemic Liberator get the crowd dancing in that typical 80’s frenzy.
Again, Brandon’s songwriting is second to none with songs like You Never Take Me Alive, Pumpkin Man and Embassy Song he really is one of the most underrated writers of our generation, his songs are deep, thoughtful and full of emotion. Tony is visibly moved when the opening chords of the powerful anti-war ballad Mickey begin. You can see why there is this close knit community that has grown up around the work of this artist.
So ends another Westworld Weekender as the chants of Liberator ring out around KK’s, and no doubt he will be back again next year (I think this is the fourth time the weekend has been held at KK’s and it seems to be a favourite!)
Brandon and Spear Of Destiny are currently touring the UK in support of the album Janus
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