The Cooper Temple Clause

There are hopeful but ticketless fans dotted around the entrance to the Bull & Gate, and an aura of expectancy inside the venue. They made it good like we said they would - tonight sees a triumphant [if misplaced] homecoming for The Cooper Temple Clause, having spent their gigging infancy in this venue.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, The Cooper Temple Clause are not about hype or hyperbole or exotic haircuts, and tonight proves that. More than anything, the Coopers are about loudness and ear-splitting, brutal, seismic intensity. If your ears aren't leaking cochleal fluid by the time you leave, you've been in the wrong pub all evening. The Coopers' success comes from being utterly sure of themselves; there's no hesitation or uncertainty in sight as they combine precise, complex instrumentation with the kind of unrelenting and cataclysmic noise levels that would make Lemmy weep like a baby.

Panzer Attack's pretty familiar by now - it's the one that sounds like a 30,000 strong sonic army [no, not The Polyphonic Spree] equipped with bass drums and bazookas, wreaking vengeance on all who stand in their path. New single AIM meanwhile resembles the damaged offspring of Prml Scrm and The Specials but, as with pretty much everything the Coopers do, it's darker and dirtier than either.

There's a reason all these people turned up tonight to see TCTC at their onetime home-from-home, and there's a reason why the band are abducted from the stage at the end by the crowd, carried on their shoulders to the exit doors, and only allowed to leave after signing untold autographs; in a world where words like "incendiary" and "vital" are tossed around carelessly at every opportunity, this is one band for whom such descriptions couldn't be more accurate. You need this band.