Captain Everything!

I usually feel sorry for pop punk bands on the road. Having to endure, night after night and often for months on end, an endless conveyor belt of crap teenage Less Than Jake imitators and support bands who really do think they’re being original copying the already plagiarised moves of New Found Glory. It must be a depressing thought every time they head down the motorway to the next venue, but tonight they need not worry.

Hailing from the kind of industrial Midlands town that has spawned feral entities such as Contempt, Cancer *and political hardcore punks *Assert, you sense *The Fatal Mistake *aren’t quite going to be the bouncy, happy sunshine punks that many others their age are trying so hard to be.

Instead they focus their efforts on crafting the kind of infectiously dark melodies that do less to ‘bounce off the walls’, like Sugarcult, than to nail their head through the walls through words of frustration and heartache. They might seem a little timid onstage but if they can maintain the excellence of tracks like _‘Ambivalence’ _I’m sure you’ll be hearing a lot more from them soon.

Fireapple Red, however, are a completely different kettle of fish. Fronted by the, possibly over-charismatic Tarek - who is incidentally half-Moroccan, half Norwegian - they are a hyperactive hybrid of sorts; moving further from the poppier side of things and building up a much more unruly sound. As he bounds about the stage with the crazy wide-eyed smile of a madman who’s just pissed himself he attacks their melodic hardcore with a humorous swipe, picking out various members of the ‘crowd’ to direct his demented agitations. It’s hard to think they’d ever have a bad gig.

Which could also be said of Captain Everything!. Although visibly knackered, and less hyper than Fireapple Red their dry-humoured wit is still on form, asking the crowd which famous people have come out of Wolverhampton and then, after a deafening chorus of shouts, changing the lyrics to a song to fit around (Wolverhampton Wanderers striker) Steve Bull. Although a couple of kids were trying to convince me downstairs that Captain Everything! were a ska-punk band they most definitely revolve what ska elements they do have around a much more intense punk rock base, as is evident with their club ‘hit’ _‘Pictures of You’ _that whips up the youngsters present in a sing-along, bounce-along, fists-in-the-air punk frenzy. One of the set highlights though (and there are many at a Captain Everything! show) has to be when vocalist / guitarist Lewis directs the audience’s attention to a newly acquainted couple snogging at the side, with everyone quieting down for a good 20 seconds before the couple finally open their eyes, turn round and nearly faint through embarrassment at about 30 people staring and grinning at them. “This one’s for them”, he smiles as they return to their upbeat punk shenanigans.

You’d have to be a pretty depressing sod not to be even mildly amused at a Captain Everything! or Fireapple Red show. And tonight they were punkin’ excellent!