This will read more as a simple tale of two, successive, richly satisfying, rock and roll filled nights watching Twisted Wheel. You’re likely to be able to relate to this if you’ve been to one of their gigs; if you haven’t then you may wish to catch them before they knuckle down on their second album
. Having previously seen them in Manchester, Leeds and Wigan I was preparing to be enriched for the fourth time. Obsessed? I think not, I’m merely a music fan, brought up on punk rock who’s looking for an outlet. It doesn’t help when you’re situated in the sticks, surrounded by sheep, fields and young farmers. In the words of Joe Strummer, "I'm only looking for fun".
love going to the match, but it’s either paying thirty notes to have commercialism pushed in your face whilst being told to sit down and being filmed by the police, or seven quid to jump around and have a laugh whilst some brilliant tunes are blasted out.
On the bright side, Blackburn was under an hour away in the car. The Lancashire town’s Live Lounge was preparing to host Monday’s Arms, New York Tourists and of course Twisted Wheel. The venue itself can be described as a large, characteristic shoe box, offering little room for movement which only adds to the decent atmosphere that surrounds the place. Littered with images of Ian Curtis, The Cure and Noel Gallagher, I was somewhat in my element. Plenty of Red Stripe was slurped as we nodded our heads to the support bands in acknowledgement.
As I was expecting, Oldham’s rock and roll trio burst out of the traps with ‘She’s a Weapon’. Although I’ve been blasting it out on vinyl, you can’t emulate the euphoric buzz you’re hit with when the Wheel play live. In a word, mint. Apart from an amusing moment where the main man, equipment sorting - Vegas forgot to plug the lead in a guitar before enquiring whether it sounded ok, the set was flawless. I was elated to hear ‘Smash it Up’ live, it’s one of the list of great tracks that didn’t make the album. As usual the atmosphere remained exhilarating as Blackburn lapped up everything Twisted Wheel had to offer.
Akin to a sketch from The Inbetweeners, my lanky mate and I managed to get horrendously lost on the way home. Despite having sod all sleep, I awoke with the sudden urge make the trip to Liverpool for their gig at the O2 Academy . Why not eh? The sun was shining, my ears were ringing, my head was banging and I was overflowing with excitement again.
Akin to a football ‘awayday’ we met up with a pocket full of Wheel fans we’d met merely by attending gigs. Just to summarise, not only is the band a class act but they’re bringing people together. Sworn enemies are likely to unite in the name of Twisted Wheel, probably.
As the sun set in Liverpool, Jonny Brown strolled from the curry house to the public house we were situated in. When he wasn’t posing for an endless stream of Facebook pictures, he was doing his best to answer the questions flying his way
The Wheel burst on stage with as much energy as a bullet, which subsequently hits you, wakes you up and causes to dance around like you’ve won the lottery. They powered through the set, truly bringing the venue to life. Despite Jonny snapping a string, they rock and rolled through it regardless, causing pure elation amongst the crowd.
A sing along to ‘Bouncing Bomb’ offered a chance to momentarily relax, before the chaos was resumed with the biting riff that Bad Candy possessed. Their snarling punk-rock is certainly infectious, to say the least.
As I write, there are only a handful of dates left in Twisted Wheel’s tour. I’ll be there and if you’ve got any initiative, you’ll be joining me. Keep on keeping it Wheel squires.
http://joe-division.blogspot.com/2010/04/twisted-days-and-nights.html
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