Review by Alan Steenson for MPM
When asked to review this gig I jumped at the chance, the last time I went to see Therapy? Was back in the early 90’s at Mandela Hall and Ulster Hall, so it was a no briner for me to see if they still held that same rawness and loudness they did back in the day.
Therapy? tonight, were supported by local band ENOLA GAY
ENOLA GAY are a 4 piece who have gathered from various parts of the province with Fionn Reilly on vocals, Adam Cooper on bass, Joe McVeigh on guitar and Luke Beirne on Drums. What I had heard was the band didn’t shy away from social commentary and with songs like PST DUP I guessed they may not be to the liking of some people from our messed up little country.
This probably explains why Enola Gay are popular in other parts of Europe rather than in their own country… for me that’s a sad inditement of where we live, but nonetheless I’m here with an open mind and ears so on they popped to the stage with the crowd around ½ full on the floor of the Ulster Hall.
With an intro from FR of “Ulster Hall What the Fuck!?” they launched into Sofa Surfing a bassy start it was clear that Joy Division had a clear influence on this band, they had the energy of Idles but I did find it hard to pigeonhole them other than these influences, which is a great thing.
Lyrically I did struggle to make out some of the social commentary, but the sound was great… Drums were frantic and bass lines with strong and had a distinct presence hence the Joy Division influence, I guess.
As he sang this first song the ‘flow of the lyrics’ with the style of singing reminded me of verses of Mr Brightside by the Killers… but that comparison is very tenuous at best and there the similarity ended as this song packed more punch than a smack in the teeth by a local bouncer.
The second song of the evening Cortona didn’t let up on the energy of frantic pace of this band with the strobes bouncing all round the hall, I noticed that the people had emptied the bars and were glued to this sound, FR then introduced the third track of the night saying it was dedicated to George W Bush as they thrashed through Leeches me of Rage Against the Machine / Nine Inch Nails and still retaining that individual local sound with that NI Accent on vocals always fill you with pride, by this stage I am wondering what the hell is wrong with local audiences and why this band haven’t blown up here (OK wrong choice of words) like Idles or Sleaford Mods etc as this track stopped and started with a fast paced ending to appreciative applause by the crowd who by now had filled the floor.
Figures was my favourite of the evening with lots of head banging instigated by FB as JM on guitar patrolled the stage spinning and playing adding to the energy that the lead singer obviously delivered, the drums throughout this whole set were thunderous and drove the music along nicely… I loved the way FB was totally in awe of the fact he was in the Ulster Hall in front of this large crowd and did say the evening was being recorded by the BBC so he had to watch his language… which obviously he didn’t … why would he? Don’t bow down to the establishment mate! As figures drew to a close he was sitting at end of stage and then ended in the pit with screaming at the end to really wake up anyone who had not already had their ears blasted off them.
PTS. DUP is a bass driven track and as you can imagine isn’t complimentary about a certain political party, the energy this song gives live is phenomenal, and in certain quarters it’s songs like this that people who are narrow minded think this is about raising a flag to a cause.
Only in this country can we chastise bands like Enola Gay for creating songs like this… what they need is support…the song live is a passionate onslaught vocally with drums and bass driving it along until its ultimate crescendo of the title lyrically.
Knives Out followed and to me would not be out of place in a horror film soundtrack and as it ended FB just said ‘this is insane’ another reference to the fact they are there playing to this by now filled Ulster Hall For God and Ulster was next with AC bass intro just straight out of that horror theme, I was half expecting church bells to compliment it’s creepy overtones but what got was FB slowly building until the drums and cymbals kicked in with until a fast paced end, the final song of the evening Scrappers was apparently about ‘dickhead security’ which to be fair FB did say I’m sure the Ulster Hall security are nice, so nice save there! The song itself was minus guitarist who by now was just getting feedback with the guitar on stage (or at least that’s what I think was going on) the song itself grabbed you by the hair and like all the previous songs had so much energy especially at the end.
If you do get a chance to check them out please do, support our local acts there have been a few that did end up off the local radar in the past such as Cuckoo who found success in the US and were virtually unknown here, these guys deserve better… so if you didn’t go last night make sure you catch them live.
THERAPY?
So onto the main act of the evening and as this was a special evening celebrating 30 years of the album ‘Troublegum’ is was down to Mike Edgar our local supporter of all independent artists to introduce the band saying tonight was a celebration of one of the greatest albums ever to have come out of N.I. and from the pride of North East Antrim ‘Therapy’ with a nod to the Ulster Hall and those who had trodden the boards (musically) from Thin Lizzy / the Stones/ ACDC etc the list goes on… but he said despite seeing a lot of the bands in the past he had never witnessed the hall rock/bounce or explode as much as it did when Therapy? played giving us the best sweat inducing moments of our lives.
He paid tribute as to why the band had been around for so many years and referenced the fact there were so many young faces here this evening as testament to those parents who have transferred that passion to their kids… he spoke about their honesty and integrity which is born from coming from NI and their passion is always about the music and in his opinion the best live act to ever come out of Northern Ireland.. and with that onto the stage to a deafening cheer came Andy Cairns (vocals/Guitar) Michael McKeegan (bass) and Neil Cooper (Drums) no time for introductions as they launched straight into Stop It You’re Killing Me and from the outset it was clear that they had not lost an ounce of energy from those gigs back in the early 90’s with the opening lyric “the world is fucked and so am I” his voice was clear above the intense drums which was always a trademark of Therapy?
Isolation followed with the low guitar stance from Andy and with MK patrolling the stage, this Joy Division Cover transformed into a Therapy? classic. Totally Random Man from the Screamanger ep just reminds me of the 90’s, that ep CD was a constantly on my player and live was a real treat for me Andy stood in front of amp stack that included the famous “?”and the character that adorned many a t shirt in the 90’s … yup had to buy a new one at the merch! They should sue the makers of angry birds though as I noticed the similarity which I hadn’t realised before. During the song Mike interacted with Andy The crowd responded with deafening cheers to these opening four songs, with Turn creating the biggest cheer so far of this evening.
Andy then addressed the crowd saying there won’t play the album in order and they would “play it in any order they fucking want to” and saying “they are going to make a lot of noise tonight” he also paid tribute to those who parted with cash during these hard times to see them…as the stage lit blood red they blasted out Auto Surgery again from the Screamanger ep followed hot on its heels by Trigger Inside which by now a decent mosh pit had formed with bodies being passed overhead during the song, thankfully I was in the balcony my body weight would have crushed most down there so they should be thankful! On a side note tow young lads beside me thought this was hilarious and you can tell this was their first gig…and what an introduction to live music for them! The energy created by Trigger was immense and the reaction was again deafening on its climax…Andy then chatted briefly about tshirts on sale that profits went to humanitarian causes, showing the side to Therapy? that isn’t spoken enough about. He mentioned about people struggling with life and asked them to sing along to the next song Brainsaw with the lyric “I’m in hell and I’m alone” with an audition to the song being played out before they blasted it out.
Afterwards Michael was introduced as Larne’s finest as Unrequited delivered strong shouts as the intro hit hard with ‘Don’t wake me, I’m so empty’ jumping between perfect instrumental parts and short lyrical bursts. Michael then spoke to the crowd so’s not to have Andy all the limelight thanking all those that came to the gig from all over the country and even Berlin (just near Carrick) and asked Andy if he had a good riff to which he responded he had “a weeker riff” and with a “Are you ready Belfast?” he delivered that ‘weeker riff’ in the form of Femtex with the crowd bouncing to that riff brilliantly.
Hellbelly with its line ‘Jesus without the suffering’ was next with Michael helping the crowd with overhead clapping, but it didn’t last long with the crowd bouncing along. Over the last few years, I have seen a lot of bands that has similar energy 30 years ago, but the crowd either were too fat and couldn’t bounce or simply didn’t have the need to…. Unlike Therapy? this band did exactly what it did 30 years ago and lit a fire under the arse of everyone there.
After Opel Mantra Andy dedicated the next song to several dead Irish artists such as Shane Magowan and Sinead O’Connor with Die Laughing giving us the dance moves of Michael spinning and jumping as he played and climbing onto drum riser during instrumental section of the song… he then addressed the crowd to sing one word “Christ” they then played Lunacy Booth as the crowd did what they were asked delivering Christ with the venom the song delivered on record.
Nowhere whipped the crowd into a frenzy again with its opening intro riff and after finishing the perfectly delivered anthem, the band left the stage before returning with their encore:
Andy addressed the crowd with a typical Belfast word “yeooooo” and made reference to 32 years ago they released Nurse LP and would play a track from it Nausea with its rolling drum introduction and frantic pace with its opening “Here I am Motherfucker” was delivered perfectly Meat Abstract was next followed with the scream of “James Joyce is Fucking My Sister” Potato Junkie kicked our ass all over the Ulster Hall, and the young kids beside me probably wondered who James Joyce was… but I’ll let their parents explain that one to them!
Andy addressed the crowd showing his affection for Belfast and saying this evening was such a special evening for them, he then let us know that it was Neil Coopers birthday so he produced some ‘Lurgan Champagne’ in the form of a bottle of Buckfast, he then made him drink it down and goaded the crowd into saying “Neil, Neil drum like a motherfucker” and he duly did with an absolute thunderous drum solo consisting of some synth drums that were straight out of Nurse era which led us perfectly onto the second song from Nurse and the best track of this evening Teeth Grinder with its mesmerising drum and bass line and I swear I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face for the rest of the evening.
Andy thanked Enola Gay and the Crew along with the Ulster Hall crowd who made “an old man very happy” with the slow introduction and whispering of Knives the crowd responded lyrically and then back into overdrive bouncing.
The final song and to date the song that defined them for the rest of the UK and beyond was Screamanger and no better way to end an evening of high paced Northern Irish Rock with Michael on the drum Riser with a slow opening and then bursting into the familiar riff that had the crowd singing the riff.
By this stage everyone in the balcony was standing in appreciation as Andy shouted “BELFAST ….WE …ARE…. THERAPY?” as they delivered as expected…. I never really thought about it but they are indeed musical Therapy, it will be a while before I stop those songs in my head and that puts me in a very happy place…. Well done lads… that’s not an easy thing to do!
Photography by Darren McVeigh for MPM
