Independent Venue Week – Wonk Unit – Sewer Cats – Strip Search Tramp – Coventry – live review

Independent Venue Week & Sink Or Swim Promotions present Wonk Unit – Sewer Cats – Strip Search Tramp – Just Dropped In Records – Coventry – 1st February 2025

Last weekend Fighting Boredom headed to the record shop for our first hometown gig of the year, and it promises to be a corker. Headliners Wonk Unit’s album kept us smiling all the way home from Bristol the other week so we are looking forward to them, Sewer Cats we haven’t heard so looking forward to a surprise and our friends Strip Search Tramp have never disappointed us yet, read what we thought below..

It’s an early start at the record shop, Strip Search Tramp are on at seven. We get there early for a pint in the Brewery next door and then head into the record shop which is transformed. They have managed to clear the floor, all the records are in the main hall so the space looks huge. After greeting the usual weirdos and freaks we watch Suzie merrily jump the bar queue and we wind Sharif up for being antagonistic. The rest of Strip Search Tramp join him onstage and the evening starts. The beat hammers in and the groove is immediate. There’s a low, scuzzy loose bass and then your eye is caught by Tracey who is absolutely on form. They are all on it making an ace noise. It’s a low down punky rock’n’roll song. Sharif is on top form tonight, the drums are thunderous, maybe I shouldn’t have wound him up so much…

The songs turn down deep and sleazy, bass led and the vocal is taken over by Doc who just plays, no poses from him, just straightforward nasty guitar, they leave the poses to Tracey who is playing the guitar over her head, mullet all over the place wearing a tee shirt that appears to be of her.

They start to lurch and it’s brilliant, the bass gets looser and the sound is absolutely spot on. Weird synths start up and a broken blues riff which switches to rock solid fast tight punk. Russ Meyer’s girls are on the screen and the music turns sleazy again, that switches into a psychobilly breakdown and then Cramps lunacy before grinding to a halt. The Joe 90 theme kills as usual. Then the drums go massive again and they morph right into the New York Dolls in front of me with a massive dollop of Cramps too, just wonderful. They finish with another proper punky groove. What a set, and they’re first on!
Tracey and Dave are shouting about an amp being switched off, laughing at each other and I go to the brewery for a pint.

Sewer Cats are a duo, drums and guitar. The woman behind the drums leads, she sings and talks to the crowd between songs. The guitarist is in a minutemen shirt which immediately catches my eye, is stick thin and spends most of the gig contorted into different shapes as his guitar sounds fantastic. It’s excellent punk noise with the drummer singing, she sounds brilliant, a high voice and it matches the music, with blistering hard core music. She dedicates the next song to ‘all the mad bitch moshers’ while inviting them onstage so of course they are joined by Suzie who started drinking at four thirty so it’s a miracle she didn’t face plant on the stage. It’s hard, fast and political punk, the gaps between songs are for explanations and introductions and so they should be, these are great. They have a bassist onstage for a song about heartbreak, think revenge says the drummer, it’s a slow burner with loud bits, and I mean LOUD. The guitars and drums are channeling classic hard core like Husker Du and Minor Threat with a massive nod to Fugazi too. But what the hell, who cares, just let it take you away.

They play a ‘love song to the DIY punk scene’ and then ask for audience participation ‘all you need to know is ‘get it get it get it. And then launch onto a low groove with spiky angular guitars and beats. I’ve no idea how many people are singing along, I’m mesmerised by the band. They are giving it all. They obviously love doing this and they are making me grin while watching them. What an ace band. They play a ska punk song and I’m unsure if the guitarist’s feet touch the stage at all for the whole song, he just seems to be levitating.

The drummer, I’m sorry I don’t know their names, has this audience in the palm of her hand and the record shop is sold out. The two of them deserve to be stars.

They do another hard core song, young free and angry proper hardcore that lets everything out, then slow eerie guitar and slow slamming drums, they are bloody ace. They finish with one last hardcore blast. Another ace set.

Wonk unit are setting up their kit and Joe the promoter tells me that the singer is playing bass tonight as the bassist can’t make it. He hasn’t played bass for years but they have had a practice so it should go well. So I go and wind up Sharif a bit more and buy a Sewer Cats record before the headliners come on stage.

Wonk Unit’s singer is a happy chap, in fact they are all smiling and having a laugh, he says hello to everyone then explains that the bass player couldn’t make tonight so he’s playing bass for the first time in about fourteen years, they had a bit of a practice and it all went well. He says he’s going to ease into it then proceeds to make the entire band and crowd laugh as he witters on. Then they play and it all kicks in together. Choppy guitar and a nice punk groove and the vocals are clear and telling a story, I can’t understand what he’s singing about but then it’s still hard and tight. They harmonise wonderfully and you’d never know he wasn’t their usual bassist. They kick into a ska groove which is infectious and then thunderous punk again. The next story is about the singer’s Nan on the toilet with the door open. The crowd and band are cracking up now. I’m not sure if the band knows what he’s going to say before they start but judging from their faces the stories vary.. They play proper rockabilly drums and then a hardcore mess. They look like a bunch of misfits, which is always the best way for a band to look.

The guitars start high and the bass comes in with the vocal before the drums take it back into a punky groovy rhythm. I mean pretty much the whole set is punk rock in one form or another, we get aggressive seventies year zero punk, breezy nineties pop punk, angular post punk and lots and lots of more punk. But that is brilliant, that’s what this crowd want and as it’s sold out everyone just wants more. Songs are dedicated to all the parents, Joe the promoter, various people in the crowd that it’s impossible to know who and then the show is stopped for a ten minute beer break so they can display a slideshow of the missing bassist..

They do so, explaining what’s going on in each picture and then proceed to play brilliantly for about another couple of hours or so. What a band, what a set. Great stuff.

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Wonk Unit