Ginger and The Sonic Circus / Robochrist / God Damn Whores

It’s not too busy tonight in the Rio. The band are late, so a queue is forming outside in the sprinklings of the first snow here this winter. There is quite a wait once inside too, but to wake us all up from the rest is God Damn Whores, brainchild of Jon Poole; one time Wildheart.

Wearing a red square painted over his right eye that proceeds to run down his cheek (resembling blood), these guys must surely be in this for a laugh. The most famous Wildheart Ginger is on bass duties, whilst Jase Edwards is as good a guitarist as people say he is, as is a drummer by the name of Denzel who pounds the drums like his life depends on it. Plenty of catchy tunes with the odd penis joke thrown in (it’s easy to see why Poole is called Random Jon Poole), tracks from album ‘We Are The Lucky Thirteen’ are good but it seems to be more about the stage act than the music.



Robochrist is a local lad to Leeds; I think this helps him out slightly. It’s an acquired taste, as he basically appears to mime guitar and vocals along to a mish-mash of samples from his Mac including bits of, Prodigy, Trap Door and Grange Hill over heavy metal and drum and bass. There is further fun with face paint; although Robochrist gets an A for effort as he has his entire face covered in a dark clown/joker style which he must have applied in five minutes prior to his set. As I flinch away at the end, waiting for a backlash of boos and the like, the crowd start clapping and cheering, obviously loving the spectacle.



God Damn Whores also happen to be Ginger’s band, known as Ginger and the Sonic Circus. So to explain; Ginger and Jon have swapped roles, with Ginger now on lead vocals and guitar and Poole as bass player (I wonder if they get paid twice!). I am surprised at how easy on the ear they are. Yes, the distortion and random thumping on the instruments is there, but the vocals are coherent and the sound is really crisp and likeable.



First track ‘Black Windows’ has a ska feel to it, taken from Ginger’s album ‘Yoni’. The collaborated songs are in the form of sing-a-long ‘Drinking In the Daytime’, an instant classic, and ‘Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’. Also aired is the slower ‘This Is Only A Problem’ from GATSC’s album ‘Valor Del Corazon’ (supposedly Spanish for "strength of heart", though Ginger kept it as Del not De, the correct spelling). The choreographed-looking hand movements from Poole, Ginger and Edwards are comical (single-handed metal pop group springs to mind).

Ginger himself talks a lot more now he is on the wagon, in fact it appears hard for him to shut up. No one wants him to however; he is a charming and witty man who has the crowd hanging on his every word, uttered in that unmistakably Geordie accent. Though the venue was far from full, the atmosphere was excellent, with a chilled out, happy crowd and great music.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.