HEAVY METAL KIDS.

Camden Underworld: 29-5-11
 (All B&W & sepia tinted pics were taken using my dads old Nikon film camera).

 Greetings & salutations my dears. 
 Welcome to yet another Flash Tightpocket blog & yet another Heavy Metal Kids post. 
 I refer to my old mate El Diablo over at http://itsaxxxxthing.blogspot.com/2011/05/blondie-panic-of-girls.html In his review of the latest Blondie album he states in light of recent releases 'the old guard are leading the way'.
 Never a truer bloody word my son. For deep down in the dank, darkened bowels of the Camden Underworld, something was stirring & there was a feeling of excitement & anticipation about what was to come.

Shades of the kid!

 Now the bread knife & me were in a bit of a quandry about whether to come to this one, cash was low & friends were few, but your old mate Flash Tightpocket found an old long forgotten piggy bank & before you could say 'gadzooks & stap me vitals' we'd booked the tickets for the gig, loaded the jam jar with juice & secured a nights kip at the Edgware Premier inn. Niiiiiiiice !

The first port of call for Madame Tightpocket & me was the Worlds end boozer right next door to the venue, where we bumped into friends old & new whilst enjoying many a livener. Also great to bump into a few of the  H.M.K who were positively brimming with confidence, optimism & dare I say it? joy! after their recent trip to Biograd in Croatia where they apparently wowed 'em in no uncertain terms with current vocalist Phil Lewis of Girl, Torme & L.A Guns fame.
 Having taken over 600 photos dear reader, please forgive my over indulgence for loading this post with over 70 shots. Have a browse through 'em, make your own mind up & as usual feel free to nick, nab & purloin any that may take your fancy.

 Having been a veteran of many Torme gigs in the 80s, to say I was looking forward to this was something of an understatement. The band took to the stage looking fit, healthy & tanned after their brief sojourn to the Adriatic, Ronnie looking every inch the rockstar bedecked in shades & leather. How did he stay so cool in this sweatbox of a venue?
 You could have knocked me over with the feather in his top-titfer when Monsieur Lewis took to the boards. The top hat, the scarves & the fox fur. Man it could have been Gary Holton on the 'old grey whistle test' & fair play to Phil for paying homage to the great man.

 Now Phil Lewis is the consumate showman, you could see he was thrilled to be playing with a band he has loved most of his life & they were thrilled to be playing with him. This all added up to one hell of an intoxicating brew.
 You have to hand it to the Kids, they always seem to have a card hidden up their sleeve & they can never be accused of resting on their laurels, boring just isn't in their repertoire. Phil & the boys made the old songs sound like they had been written last week & the newer songs like 'blow it all away' (dynamic doesn't even come close) could have been written specifically for him. They fit like a mink lined glove.

 Just for the record, I would like to say; Phil Lewis makes me sick. He doesn't look to have aged since those days back in the 80s with Torme. He either knows the location of the fountain of youth, or he has a particularly gruesome looking painting lurking in the depths of his loft.
 A party piece of the late great Gary Holton used to occur during the high camp of 'the cops are coming', during the middle spoken piece he used to pull a replica of his own head from a bucket while the baying hordes shouted 'HIS HEAD FELL OFF'. So more kudos to young Phil for pulling the head of the ugliest looking bugger you've ever seen from his galvanised pail.

 When the band came back on for their inevitable encore, yours truly was utterly gobsmacked. A song I'd been screaming for, for ages, although de-reggaefied, 'run around eyes' still sounded fantastic. 
 Now I don't know how long this holy union is going to last, but I could swear I heard Phil say he'd see us in August. So come on fellas, how about letting the faithful know what's gonna happen.

 As Madame Tightpocket & yours truly drifted off into the mild Camden evening, we could be forgiven our knowing smirks, for we knew we had witnessed something special: Not apocalyptic you understand, but very special nevertheless. To a man, the kids were awesome; Ronnie; with his rockstar cool, Cosmo; mean moody & magnificent, Justin; rocks like f#+k, Keith; simply the best drummer I've ever seen & Phil Lewis; well he was Phil Lewis & that was more than enough really.
The old guard are doing very well indeed thank you very much.
 Please enjoy the rest of the pictures my dears.

  Chin chin my dears.