It’s Saturday in London and, after a stressful couple of weeks at work, a night of adrenaline fueled punk rock n roll is beckoning. Over at The Lexington, courtesy of Vive Le Rock magazine, Desperate Measures are having a launch party for their new ‘Sublime Destruction’ album and have brought along their friends, The DeRellas plus current talk of the town, Thrill City to help celebrate.

It’s quiet when we first venture up the venue’s spiral staircase to the first floor, but it soon fills up and we are introduced to Thrill City. Featuring veteran players, Zodiac Mindwarp guitarist Cobalt Stargazer and Crazyhead’s drummer Robbie Vom plus relative newcomers Aiden and Laurence on vocals and bass duties respectively, Thrill City produce the sort of classic psychedelic, riff heavy punk rock that wouldn’t be out of place on an 80s horror film soundtrack. Thrill City - Mar 24 Cobalt’s an old hand at this entertainment business and frequently lets rip with his soaring crowd pleasing solos especially on ‘Chained to the Ground’. A couple of times, he comes off the stage and solos with the audience – never a bad thing. With engaging songs such as ‘The Crow’, ‘Thrill City’ and ‘Pill City’, the band certainly have a promising future. The watching crowd certainly thought so. Thrill City - Mar 24 Timmy DeRella is an omnipresent force on the London punk scene having been responsible for the excellent Rockaway Beach monthly night at Islington’s iconic Hope and Anchor for many years. With bands as diverse as King Salami and the Cumberland 3, Flesh Tetris and Rubella Ballet having played there in recent times, it’s always worthwhile popping along to check out the action. The DeRellas - Mar 24 Tonight, Timmy’s brought his own band, The DeRellas along to The Lexington. Having been through a number of singers over the years, Timmy has now taken over vocal duties full time and has really grown into the role in recent years to the extent it’s hard to imagine anybody else doing it. Bouncing around the stage like a vaudeville punk rock urchin with his low slung bass, he remains one of the most enjoyable frontmen currently on the scene. Ever reliable guitarist Luca provides the restrained cool in comparison to Timmy’s energized performance whilst the rest of the band add to the musical muscle.

The DeRellas - Mar 24

Recent album ‘Something’s Got to Give’ was a glam infused punk classic and gets a welcome airing tonight, especially ‘Sonic Detonator’, but a splattering of old favourites keeps the older fans of the band happy as well. You can’t help but walk away from a DeRellas show with a smile on your face and tonight was no different.

Vive Le Rock’s Editor in Chief, Eugene Butcher originally formed Desperate Measures back in New Zealand in the 80s before he relocated to London. Resurrecting the band a few years back, the lineup now includes Ricky McGuire on bass, James Sherry on drums and Gaff on guitar slinging duties. Some impressive support slots have followed performing with a number of iconic punk bands whilst the band has been venturing further outside of London on a more frequent basis. Desperate Measures - Mar 24 Opening with ‘Scars & Memories’ with its chugging guitar intro, pounding bass line, scathing lyrics and singalong chorus, the band set out their stall for the night. Eugene has mastered this frontman lark and has developed his own posturing style as he squats and gesticulates menacingly into the crowd. New song ‘Pockets’ is a welcome addition to the set giving the rhythm section a chance to shine. Desperate Measures - Mar 24 Album title track ‘Sublime Destruction’ is a thumping speed fest with some quality ‘woahs’ permeating the chorus before Gaff is allowed to let loose on his six string. Despite the mass of hair almost forever covering Gaff’s face, there are occasional flashes of his grinning gnashers, and he’s clearly loving playing this stuff. Dating back to the original band days, ‘1984’ is reminiscent of early Killing Joke and will always get a thumbs up from me. ‘Lost Angels’ reminds me a little of Bob Mould’s exploits with Sugar which is no bad thing, whilst ‘Enjoy the Ride’ sees the ever versatile Kit Swing venture on stage to provide backing vocals. Desperate Measures - Mar 24 The almost gothic ‘Flowers at Your Door’ starts off sounding like a Neff outtake before mutating into a mini punk epic. A rousing ‘Back to the Rats’ brings the main set to a close, but there’s still time for a fun stomp through The Stooges ‘I Wanna Be Your Dog’.

I’ve seen Desperate Measures a number of times over the last few years and there is a definitely a progression in what they do, with the set list becoming increasingly varied, whilst retaining that punk rock edge. The band are tight and clearly enjoying themselves as did the audience.

So, three very different bands, each excelling at what they do and putting a smile on my face after a long hard month. Desperate Measures - Mar 24