The Scottish punk rockers recently released their new studio album, ‘Psycho Tornado’, some 11 years after their last. The band are on their UK tour promoting the new release from this month into next year, now with the addition of a new guitarist to their lineup, GoGo. The tour comes after their support slot for the B-52s and Devo joint headliner at the O2 in the summer.
Entering to the theme of ‘Thunderbirds’, the band came on stage at first without founding members and lead vocalist pair, Eugene Reynolds and Fay Fife, performing as a mostly instrumental introduction track, their new bonus album song ‘Explotando’, whipped up into a South American sonic tornado with lead garage guitar solos by album co-producer Martin Metcalfe of Scottish alternative rock band, Goodbye Mr Mackenzie who, after playing in his band for the support, also joined the Rezillos for their entire set. The Rezillos lineup further includes Chris Agnew (bass, backing vocals) and Willy Molleson (drums, backing vocals).
Following on from their theme tune entrance music, the band performed ‘Thunderbirds Are Go’ and the teasing ‘Teenbeat’, the latter with Reynolds’ and Fife’s choir-like vocals, as well as ‘Flying Saucer Attack’. The first new song of the night was ‘Sugar Punk Fairy’, also the opening song on the new album, featuring buzzing guitar duality mirroring the theme of the song and a thunderous drum sound. ‘Curse of the Pretty Man’, one of Fife’s songs, saw her bellowing out parts of the lyrics via her bipolar vocal style, whereas album single, ‘Cranium’ was a noise track inside a poppier tune. Second album single, ‘The Peppermint Lounge’, had a touch of glam rock that harkened back to the days when the band recorded their 1978 debut and critically acclaimed album, ‘Can’t Stand The Rezillos’, in New York City. Their last new song of the night was the frantic and melodious hooks of ‘Edge Of Delight’, which could easily have been another single.
The remainder of the set was classic Rezillos’ material, beginning on their cover of Jeremy Spencer’s ‘Somebody’s Gonna Get their Head Kicked in Tonight’, a song popularised in culture through its use on the soundtrack for the film ‘Jackass: The Movie’, and showcased Reynolds’ trademark raspy vocals. This was followed up by one Revillos’ track, ‘Motorbike Beat’, which is subjected upon Reynolds’ love of motorcycles. The band’s second single, ‘(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures’, had an acrid guitar riff and meshed over into punk song ‘Ballroom Blitz’, in which Fife accidentally keeled over on stage but then continued to sing from the floor. The Rezillos ended their main set on their 1977 debut single, ‘I Can’t Stand My Baby’, with thrashy guitars, coming back for an encore that featured their fourth single, ‘Destination Venus’. The band are still going strong beyond the restrictions of the three-chord genre they started out in, with their flamboyant mix of ’60s beat and high-flung energy still making for great records some 50 years later.
10/10/26: The Rezillos @ 229, London.
Photos © Peter Tainsh.
© Ayisha Khan.