HARD-ONS
Sonic Ballroom, Köln
April 1, 2009Lucky me, this is my fourth time in five days seeing the Hard Ons. But it’s my first ever visit to the German city of Köln (home of an incredible Cathedral) and the Sonic Ballroom, a cracking Punk Rock Bar that proves to be the ideal setting for a gig. The back of the stage is a homage to The Ramones, with a replication of the silhouetted band photo from “Too Tough to Die”. A fitting title if ever there was for the outfit playing tonight I think…
The compact venue is rammed full of people by the time Ray, Blackie and (stand in drummer for this tour) Greg take to the stage and set things in motion to the melody soaked “Sunny” (from the “Very Exciting” LP). It’s all cylinders firing as they furiously launch in to a set that throws up a few blasts for the past (“Just Being With You”, “Where Did She Come From”, "I Do I Do I Do” and a crushing metallic K.O. of “Made to Love You” to close) but also focuses strongly on their last two studio albums (“Most People are a Waste of Time” and “Most People are Nicer Than Us”).
It’s great how the gear shift between the poppier material from “Waste” and the thrash-attack mayhem from “Nicer” is pretty much seamless… it all just merges in to killer catchy songs played by first rate musicians that continue to evolve and innovate their own distinct sound.
Bringing things bang up to date there are two new songs, the sugar-pop “Everyone Seems to be Out to Get You” plus the kick-ass “Cigarettes”, most ironic as the air was thick with nicotine fumes. Poor Blackie’s polite appeal for punters to refrain from smoking during their set fell on deaf ears… but he got his own back when the crowd started shouted out for songs:" “Sorry, like you I don’t do requests”!! That made me laugh!! As does Ray’s guttural “Rockabilly”… a Bo D blow up… marvellous!!
And that, in essence, is the Hard-Ons in 2009; determined not to rest on their laurels and regurgitate past glories, but to push themselves musically… and if they have to break their own mould along the way, then so be it. And if it pisses off people who just wanna hear a whole set of old stuff, then that’s just fine by them too. Clearly, those inclined to only look back would be best advised to stay home and jack off to their precious battered copies of “Love is a Battlefield… “ and “Dickcheese”. That was… this is.
So there ya go… light, sound, drums, guitar, Hard Ons! Ripping it up, hammering it out, blasting your ear drums and still blazing their trail on, what The Barman himself noted as, a unique sonic path. I was stoked to be along for the ride… this band never lets me down. Still on tour in mainland Europe, with Japan to follow. Go check www.myspace.com/hardonsband for dates. - Pete Craven
