Punky trio Trevor’s Head are frenzied and ecstatic, opening the second night of Mondo Generator‘s UK tour with a roar of energy. As a unit they’ve got loads of moving parts, the bass moving from piledriver rhythms to tasteful melodies, the guitars swinging from chunky riffs to wild atonal nonsense and the drums bubbling with barely-controlled thunder. Matt Ainsworth’s percussive magic is their secret weapon, tight snare rolls and boisterous grooves holding everything together when they could so easily fly off the handle. With such a present backbone they have free reign to go from tight songs to formless noise and back again without losing focus. Real stoner magic.
Alunah have shifted through several styles, shedding their trad roots for a pacier, streamlined approach. Offering digestible, charismatic single cuts, Siân Greenaway’s vocals are confident and melodic, backed by the crash and wallop of drummer Jake Mason. There’s a pep in their step which trad doom usually lacks, and tonight they stride the stage, locked in together, their presentation clean and crisp, the warm guitars tearing through honey-thick riffs. Colourful and dynamic, this is Alunah rearing their head, all the better for their changes.
Headliners Mondo Generator are pure muscle, a little more caustic than tonight’s other offerings and Nick Oliveri’s previous outings; they stomp the stage, frenzied and haggard. There’s a lean power to them striding about, cutting out anything that doesn’t drive the set forward; there’s so much Oliveri can say, but he keeps announcements short, driving the excitement into the audience. At points the energy swings between the coiled potential to start a fight at any moment and pure good-times stoner warmth; nowhere is this better displayed than the sudden rendition of Kyuss‘ ‘Green Machine’, which summons up a wild reaction. This has a special, lasting power: how many stoner fans missed out on Kyuss, and at this point Kyuss Lives?
Words: Tom Coles
Pics: Marcus Way (Marcus Way Photography & Video)
