Posted on July 15, 2010 - by Editor

Jesse Malin & The St. Marks Social + The Killing Floor + Allan Fox

Jesse Malin

Thursday 7th July 2010
Islington Academy
London, UK

I arrived early at the venue, not quite knowing what to expect. Prior to the emailer interview we did with Jesse earlier in the year in connection with his latest record “Live It To Life” being released, I hadn’t  known much about Jesse Malin and I say that with no disrespect, but the interview and prior research provided plenty of evidence that Jesse Malin is a man well established, and  respected in musical circles and punk rock.

The venue was still pretty sparse on arrival but already showed signs of the mixed variety in attendance for the night’s performance. First up was a member of the St Marks Social as Allan Fox started his  solo performance on keyboards accompanied by his vocals, the crowd not quite sure how to react to his mad playing style but good voice. After a few songs on the keyboards he switched to guitar and belted out a few more heartfelt and sincere songs to a warm response. A brave effort as it’s not an easy task by any means to perform solo in front of a crowd that doesn’t know your material, but by his own words, he had found that the first 50-60 people at the shows had been great on the tour to date and respectful of his efforts.

During the break between the set and the final support, the crowd steadily swelled and by the time the four piece, The Killing Floor, arrived on stage people were already jostling for places near the front of the stage. The band all clad in black played a sort of garage flowery rock but I didn’t really get into them at all, the lead trying his best but his enthusiastic attempts to get things going felt a bit lame. Their look was very groomed and stylised which bugged me slightly and so did their performance with the music itself not standing out in my opinion; just good mid tempo steady safe rock. Perhaps it’s more of a reflection of the type of shows I generally attend, but there was a lack of urgency and energy. The penultimate ‘Perfect Paradise’ and final song ‘Your Enemy’ both showing a bit more initiative and variety but as a whole not a band that appealed to my tastes.

The final interval before Jesse and The St Mark Social took the stage, again saw crowd numbers grow with elbow battles by the bar and those arriving by now resigning themselves to viewing the set from the rear of the room. When Jesse and the band arrived on stage to loud cheers, Jesse wearing the same attire as in his recent press photos that accompanies our interview, the atmosphere in the room was full of expectancy and excitement. The St Marks Social were also dapper and well dressed and the band started off with first single from “Love It To Life” and personal favourite, ‘Burning The Bowery’. From the onset the energy and passion seemed to strike a chord with myself and the fans who were passionate and dedicated to Jesse and his legacy.

Jesse has an amazing ability in crafting great songs and as he worked through a catalogue I had never previously heard before, the songs became instantly likable any catchy enough to sing along to, although most in attendance already knew the words, testing out their own vocal chords. The songs I did recognise were ‘Disco Ghetto’ and ‘St. Marks Sunset’, with Jesse providing short back stories and introduction to a number of others for those of us less versed in his back catalogue. Songs such as ‘Queen Of The Underworld’ and ‘Almost Grown’ about stepping outside of society and loss respectfully.

Jesse and his band had amazing vocals and an enormous amount of fun on stage and obviously decades of performing doesn’t damage the ability to put on a great show! He talked freely to the crowd as if long lost friends and that ability to come across sincerely is what separates him from many other performers. At one point he started on a song, stopped, started screaming to get someone kicked out of the venue, all to the shock of the crowd, before he grinned and apologised, explaining he did that as he needed to get everyone’s attentions and distracted to sort his out of tune guitar to which the crowd nervously laughed and applauded.

The encore was completed with ‘New World Oder’ and a fast punk rock song before extending the encore set with a solo son whose first chord of the guitar ignited a sing along form the diehard fans about a song about needing any more wars. At this point the gig reached the slightly bizarre and unique as Jesse stepped out over the barrier and into the crowd and asked everyone to take a seat on the floor whilst Jesse went on a prolonged near-rant as he made his way to the bar and managed a free tequila amidst anti corporation ramblings. Appreciative of nearly everyone going along with his request to take a seat he finished the show with a slow acoustic number and then with ‘Aftermath’ drawing a close on a memorable show and consummate performance.