Pilgrim Fathers, Alright The Captain and Baby Godzilla

The first band on tonight, Alright The Captain threaten to tear my eardrums to shreds and rattle my bones until I’m just a pile of mush on the Chameleon’s beer soaked floor. The band weld juggernaut sized riffs to a mind-melting array of time signatures and key changes. Math Rock be be a self-knowing and introverted genre, but ATC explore their music with glorious abandon. The guitars jitter around in a restless and schizophrenic manner and you don’t know where the band are going go from one minute to the next. Talking about music taking you on a ‘journey’ can sound a bit cheesy, but ATC make music that grabs you in a headlock and drags you along with it. There’s also a fun bit of crowd participation as they get the crowd to shout “honey badger, honey badger” before playing said song.

 

Baby Godzilla threaten to tear the venue a new one as they flood the room with relentless and heavy hardcore buzzsaw riffs and punky energy. If people were starting to flag after a week of nine to five then this is the perfect shot of energy - the music smashing you in the face to get your attention and wake you from your slumber. As usual, the stage area is not enough to contain the band and their energy and they burst amongst the audience making their set a full on immersive experience. Throaty screams whip up those at the front in to a moshing frenzy and set eventually implodes in on itself, because, as one mighty Canadian once said, it’s better to burn out then to fade away; and Baby Godzilla seem to have taken these words to heart.

 

Everything about Pilgrim Fathers makes me want to triumphantly punch the air. It could be that lead singer Shelf looks like he’s just come back from rummaging through Rob Halford’s linen basket or it’s because that the band make music that sounds like its been carved by the gods of metal as a present to us mere mortals. Heavy, psychedelic 70s rock is the obvious reference point, with the band churning out monster riffs that would make Tommy Iommi shake in his fairy boots; whilst the vocals burble and swirl around in a kaleidoscopic haze as if they’ve taken something they shouldn’t have. It’s all played with a cheeky wink in the eye, but they mean every last note they play.

 

Pilgrim Fathers, Baby Godzilla and Alright The Captain played at The Chameleon on Friday 15 July 2011.