Say what you like about punk rock, but if it’s grounded in one principle, then surely it’s the belief that self-pity gets you nowhere.

Right back to its inceptive DIY ethic through to the Bad Brains manifesto of thinking positively, punk championed the belief that times can be tough but we should avoid surrendering to the melancholy.  Of all of the potential ‘no futures’, surely the worst was the one where we simply gave up.

Of the original punk icons who spread the pma attitude, perhaps few did it as well as the Dead Boys.  Intense, witty and rebellious the Boys were keen to drive home messages of personal control and deliberate action.  40 years on from seminal album ‘Young Loud and Snotty’, and touring a re-recording of the lp, the Deads are out to prove that good ideas don’t date.
Returning to the live scene as a 5 piece, including original members Johnny Blitz and Cheetah Chrome, the band attack their tracks as if they’d been released 4 weeks ago, rather than 4 decades.  Newly recruited frontman Jake Hout excels as the main focal point, sneering and pouting in a way which blends the physicality of Scott Weiland with the anger of Johnny Rotten. Standout tracks ‘Aint it Fun’ and ‘Down in Flames’ steal the show with their intensity and a comic humour that is so often lost in translation.
Intellectual, fierce and honest the Boys give the punk fans what they’ve always wanted, 3 chords, the truth and a style of art which can only come from the innermost parts. This is a show that reminds you to focus on the things you can control rather than the things you can’t.