Venue:
The American Bar, Belfast
Date: 06/07/2024
There may be those who thought that Dave McLarnon was pushing a fridge up a mountain in pursuing the goal, with quiet determination, of re-establishing Shock Treatment – his 1978-82 Ulster punk band – as an active, inspiring, celebratory band of then and now… But if those people exist, they weren’t there yesterday afternoon at the American Bar. Metaphorically, Shock Treatment blew the bl**dy doors off – and if they’d done so literally, it would been very welcome indeed, because the place was rammed, the heat was hot and outside the sun had got its hat on. But no one left because Dave and the boys were on fire!
Covid/lockdown took a lot of wind out of the sails of the local gig scene in NI – people’s attending habits, opportunities to play, etc. – and it’s perhaps only now that things are looking a bit healthier on that front. Chris Roddy runs the American Bar’s ‘Saturday Afternoon Club’. Chris is a legend who deserves to be celebrated widely. Unlike some in the NI music world, he doesn’t go around talking about himself so it’s up to others to do that for him. He’s the man who made the Rotterdam Bar a magical place for music in the late 80s and 90s, and who learned his trade / caught the music bug at his father’s place, The Pound, in the 70s (itself a legendary beacon of music during the Troubles with a celebrated Saturday afternoon gig, before central Belfast’s evening closedown in that era). I was chuffed that the people who made a local TV doc about me earlier this year wanted a part of that doc to doff the cap at Chris and the Rotterdam – but he deserves a documentary of his own, be it TV or (much easier to make happen) radio. I hope he gets it.
Getting back to yesterday’s gig, it was opened by a chap called Stiff Little Busker – a very entertaining fellow with a repertoire of pop / punk from the late 70s and early 80s: ‘Love of the Common People’, ‘London Calling’, SLF numbers and ‘Do Rocksteady’ come to mind from his set – the latter especially, because I feel sure he added a fourth chord (a G) to it!
The Shock Treatment set was two or more hours long, with a short intermission, but the time flew. My good pal Mark Case (one of whose photos is above) was with me, along with Mrs H, and Mark’s wife Karen – an extremely bluff (English) Northerner, not easy to please – joined us halfway through. Not only did Karen enjoy the show she said something none of us expected: ‘It felt joyous.’ She was absolutely right. This was a Shock Treatment performance oozing with joy and celebration – and rocking like 1978 (with the benefit of decades’ more experience).
Dave had first revived Shock Treatment in 2014 as ‘Shock Treatment 21’ in a five-piece line-up with a keyboard-heavy sound and with himself the sole original member. Their album ‘The Days of the Buckshee Bounce Are Nearly Over’ featured several original-era songs and others from Dave’s subsequent songbook. The musical retirement of keyboard maestro Keith not long before Covid was an opportunity to reconfigure – and Dave went resolutely back to the source, recruiting lead guitar colossus Billy Shovel (a sleeping giant of guitar, formerly of Ghost of An American Airmen – Belfast’s late 80s/90s answer to Simple Minds, with a trio of international albums back in the day – absent from the music scene for decades until Dave called) and re-opening his 1978–82 songbook to pull out more lost gems. The original Shock Treatment only managed three songs on record: an own-label single in 1981 (‘Big Checked Shirts’/’Mr Mystery Man’) and a stone-cold classic on a Good Vibrations spin-off label V/A EP in 1980 (‘Belfast Telegraph’). But there was gold in them there songwriting notebooks – a slew of Dave McLarnon/Barry McIlheney co-writes that never got further than demo stage back in the day. Some had featured on ‘Buckshee Bounce’ in finessed form, but more would feature on 2024’s ‘Exclusive Photos’, the first album truly credited to ‘Shock Treatment’.
I reviewed ‘Exclusive Photos’, released in January this year, elsewhere on The Afterword. Aside from being a blistering vinyl-length offering in authentic circa-78 punk/power pop style (think Blondie, 999, Sham ’69, The Motors’ first album etc.), featuring material mostly written at that time, it also bought original vocalist Barry McIlheney and original drummer Johnny Dental (AKA Chris Loughridge) back into the fold, guesting on several numbers. The core four-man line-up is: Dave McLarnon (vocal/guitar), Billy Shovel (lead guitar/harmony vocals), John Ross (bass/harmony vocals), Gordie Walker (drums).
While Johnny Dental – a celebrated personality on the local private dentistry scene, whose extensive professional premises include a specially built rehearsal room round the back for punk revival activities – has guested on a couple of other Shock Treatment shows this year, including their album launch in Bangor back in January, Bazza McIlheney – a former publishing legend (Q, Mojo, Empire etc.) – had thus far been elusive on the live stage. Sensationally, Bazza flew in from his castle in Spain to perform with his old band for the first time in 42 years yesterday – featuring on ‘On The Line’, Got No Right’ and ‘Belfast Telegraph’ in the second half of the show.
On paper – and I mean that literally, as I’m looking at a salvaged set list as I type – it may look like the band kept all their ‘big numbers’ till the second hour but it certainly didn’t feel like that on the day. They opened with ‘King of Nothing’ and ‘Police on my Back’, two storming songs that as far as I’m aware have never been recorded. The same can be said for two other songs in the set – ‘One Way Street’ and ‘I Don’t Want to Go’. That 78–82 McLarnon/McIlheney songbook may yet yield another album!
It was a 26-song set with 11 of those in the first half. Intriguingly, there was nothing from the new ‘Exclusive Photos’ album in that first set bar ‘When the Whistle Blows’ – a brooding arena ballad originally recorded by Billy Shovel’s fondly remembered old band Ghost of An American Airman – signed to a US label, arguably failing to break through over there during the Gulf War era because of the name. ‘Whistle…’ is a vehicle now for a fabulous McLarnon vocal and exciting guitar/controlled feedback howling from Shovel. Two further GOAAA numbers of yore featured in the show: ‘Walking Jack’ and ‘Whipping Boy’. In similar territory to ‘Whistle…’ was one of only four ‘outside’ covers in the show, Big Country’s ‘Chance’ – another smouldering arena ballad that showed the quality and power of McLarnon’s voice, which has really only come to prominence in the past decade or so. (There was a story told onstage about the late Stuart Adamson’s connection to Dave, but I can’t recall it…) In both Shock Treatment (1978–82) and his other prominent band Peacefrog (c.1990–96), Dave was a sideman vocally. Amazing to think that one of NI’s greatest rock vocalists ever was hiding under a bushel for so long!
The vocals are, indeed – with fabulous harmonies from Rossi and Shovel – are one of the key factors in the current Shock Treatment sound – an ace up the sleeve setting them apart from surely any other original-era punk revivalists, where vocals are usually barked (or in the case of Sham 69, hardly sung/barked at all, with the punters expected to do the work).
The second set opened with a barrage of killer songs from ‘Exclusive Photos’, mostly penned in the 78–82 era but also including one written a year or so back, ‘You Can Change It (DUPed Again)’. Magically, this was performed only hours after Northern Ireland finally rid itself of the house of Paisley from public life – the last of that line having made an extremely good living out of the public/unknown purses of the UK and holiday destinations in the Indian Ocean and having, in my view, a disgraceful record. Commentators are saying that even the DUP will be glad to see the back of him. One must cherish these small victories.
Another guest in the second half was Waldo Comfy, a remarkable character from the 70s who fronted, in purple velvet suits and aviator shades, Dave’s pre-Shock Treatment ‘classic rock’ (school) band Sunset – who, as we learned from the stage yesterday, reached their peak supporting Leo Sayer back in the day at the Ulster Hall. Who knew? Such is Dave’s energy and belief that in the past few years he has not only been pushing the refrigerator of Shock Treatment uppa mountain but simultaneously dragging the chest freezer of a Sunset revival as well, featuring original members Waldo Comfy, Johnny Dental (him again), Barry Brickhouse and Cosmo Serious. Dave likes a challenge – and the gig-going public of NI are the grateful beneficiary of his industry!
Waldo fronted the second ‘outside’ cover of the afternoon, Status Quo’s ‘Paper Plane’. Billy Shovel gave it 100% on the Rick Parfitt legs akimbo bludgeoning riffola front – he explained afterwards that you have to do the stance to get that juggernaut groove going. Indeed, so blisteringly effective was it that he couldn’t stop – everyone launched immediately after into ‘Caroline’, not on the set list. Once you start that Quo engine up, it’s very hard to stop it. A Quo-esque cover of ABBA’s ‘Does Your Mother Know?’ occurred around this time. This stuff was encore gold territory, but such was the demand for more that another vintage Shock Treatment was played, again not on the set list (and I can’t recall the title).
Truly, this was a world-class performance of pure rock with melody, harmony and class. The attitude, lyrics and chord changes of the core ST repertoire have the DNA of classic-era punk/power pop in abundance but the vocal arrangements and instrumental quality bring it all into a realm of much wider here-and-now appreciation. This is an act that could storm Blackpool Winter Gardens if ST were ever invited to the annual Rebellion Festival – but it could also delight and surprise anywhere on the bill at any mainstream festival wanting a 30- or 45-minute set of all killer/no filler. Here’s hoping they get those opportunities.
The audience:
It made me think..
It made me think that Dave McLarnon – too often a footnote character in existing Ulster punk histories – is the resounding winner in a very long tortoise & hare race. There are a fair amount of clapped out or mediocre acts from that period making solid livings from the punk revival circuit. Dave and his crew went and had lives doing other things for many years and have come back fresh – they have fresh zeal to match the authentic DNA of the punk era. The Rebellion Festival, for one, would be mad not to get in touch – but Shock Treatment in 2024 deserve to be heard far and wide outside of that punk revival ghetto. They’re not only brilliant, they’re fun!
Colin H says
I don’t have any clips from yesterday’s show but here’s one from a performance at the Oh Yeah Centre, Belfast in March – their classic 1980 45 ‘Belfast Telegraph’.
Colin H says
Hold the front page, it looks like someone took a load of clips yesterday. They don’t capture the wall of sound intensity in the room but they’ll give you an idea… Here’s the as yet unrecorded opening number ‘King of Nothing’:
Colin H says
And here’s one with original vocalist Bazza McIlheney guesting – first time in over 40 years! – and John Rossi’s Rickenbacker bass in excelsis:
Colin H says
‘THE AUDIENCE’ section of the review seems not to have posted. Here it is:
The audience was a wide demographic, from 20-somethings to 60-somethings, and included ‘original fan’ Maureen Lawrence, who guested onstage reprising her ‘Exclusive Photos’ cameo as part of ‘the Belfast Punk Choir’ on ‘Belfast City/Belfast Punk’ – Dave’s recently written reflection on the punk era in Belfast. Without wanting to poke any bears – and there’s one particularly aggressive one from that era who’s been lashing out recently – let me put it this way: everyone from that era has a story to tell, including Dave, Bazza, Maureen and others, and let them all tell those stories if they wish. Everyone has different memories, experiences and insights and somewhere in the middle the truth may lie. As Viv Stanshall once put it, let’s all make up and be friendly. 😊
Mike_H says
I notice your buddy Scott Flanigan has landed a little weekly live jazz show on BBC Radio Ulster, Colin. “Live at Scott’s Jazz Club”.
Weren’t you involved in the club’s setup, in it’s early days?
Colin H says
Indeed so. The Radio Ulster recordings come from co-founder Cormac O’Kane’s assiduous multi-track recording of most of the 100+ shows thus far. Expect a Scott’s announcement soon…
Mike_H says
Jolly good.
I missed the first few broadcasts, sadly.
Kaisfatdad says
Once again, a post from you, Colin, that was a sheer delight to read.
Whether you are writing about Bert Jansch in the folk clubs of Soho or the Belfast punk scene, you have an uncanny ability to enthral your readers!
You could probably get me interested in chartered accountancy!!
And your world is so full of fascinating characters!
“Waldo Comfy, Johnny Dental, Barry Brickhouse and Cosmo Serious. ”
Wow!!
Colin H says
You’re very kind, Fatz! 😀 And you’re right – my world does seem to have some interesting characters in it. Here’s Waldo and the boys rocking a charity do in 2019 – the very night that Billy Shovel turned up out of obscurity (since packing in Ghost of an American Airman in the early 90s) and jammed, thus getting him into the orbit of Dave McLarnon’s many bands and swift membership of the revived Shock Treatment!
Help Me:
Whisky in the Jar / Gloris (featuring Billy Shovel):
hubert rawlinson says
Excellent read Colin.
Colin H says
Thank you, Hubes.