Raketkanon – Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam
Hare and Hounds, Birmingham
14th August 2019
One of our albums of the year for 2018 was Blackout Cowboy by Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam. We found out they were playing back in Kings Heath and Fighting Boredom weren’t going to miss out, they were supporting Raketkanon, as they say, ‘one of the loudest, darkest and most progressive rock bands in the world.’ Sounds like it’s going to be a good night.
It’s been a while, this is the first trip to the Hare and Hounds this year and the first time we’ve seen Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam since we reviewed Blackout Cowboy last year. Bloody knee operations. Anyway, the Hare and Hounds is a grand old corner pub in Kings Heath Birmingham. The band’s been put back half an hour so we are forced to have another round.
Upstairs the rooms quite full for a support band on at eight thirty, but this is Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam we are talking about and this is home turf for them. The people know who they are and to be honest, they’re why Fighting Boredom are here tonight. They come onstage, three guitars, bass and drums. Although, why is the drummer playing guitar and why is the keyboardist drumming? It all becomes slightly clearer as they swap positions various times during the set.
They kick straight in and it’s as tight and cool as they have ever sounded. The guitars are full on and the vocal is high and clear. ‘Running From My Ghost’ sounds so good. I’m grinning and moving to the music and singing along to the harmonies. The vocals switch over and the guitars get harder and punkier. They smile as they play, they are filling this room with music and people are grinning back. Then thunderously fast drumming and descending guitars and ‘Sink or Swim’ it’s powerful, sounding both mad and emotional. The key to Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam is the edge of emotion that sits at the verge of all their music, the feeling of letting go is what makes them stand out for me. Their music is melodic and perfect. The three guitars make a gloriuos sound, the bassist is going bonkers and the drums are just making you move. The vocals crown it all off, brilliant.
They play for half an hour, with the power of the best Alternative rock, think Husker Du and add a dollop of pure emotion. The monitors break and their response is ‘fuck it’ laughing, they play on anyway and it’s difficult to imagine what would be different if the monitors had been working. The thing is, however many times you see Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam each time they are different, they never seem to play the same set twice and they have a massive back catalogue to call from too, so every gig is a little event and we rate all of those that we have seen very highly.
Raketkanon have a fantastic light up heart shape thing behind them, it’s flashing, swapping patterns
and creating a blinding backdrop. They play goth tinged metal, sludgy in places and quieter in others, interesting you would say. Kind of an industrial Nine Inch Nailsy. Ministry feel. The drums go from hammering to are slow and deliberate and the vibe is concentrated and insular. They are very very focused on creating the sound and they move like madmen on the stage. They stray into funkier basslines and less screaming but go very quickly back into their base level sound. It’s not really me and I’m not feeling it. It is good to see a young band making a noise like this but it’s not for me. They are however very much a crowd puller and the room is full.
–
Raketkanon
Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam
All pictures by Martin Ward, all words by Adrian Bloxham.
Upstairs the rooms quite full for a support band on at eight thirty, but this is Sunshine Frisbee Laserbeam we are talking about and this is home turf for them. The people know who they are and to be honest, they’re why Fighting Boredom are here tonight. They come onstage, three guitars, bass and drums. Although, why is the drummer playing guitar and why is the keyboardist drumming? It all becomes slightly clearer as they swap positions various times during the set.
and creating a blinding backdrop. They play goth tinged metal, sludgy in places and quieter in others, interesting you would say. Kind of an industrial Nine Inch Nailsy. Ministry feel. The drums go from hammering to are slow and deliberate and the vibe is concentrated and insular. They are very very focused on creating the sound and they move like madmen on the stage. They stray into funkier basslines and less screaming but go very quickly back into their base level sound. It’s not really me and I’m not feeling it. It is good to see a young band making a noise like this but it’s not for me. They are however very much a crowd puller and the room is full.
