The Filaments, The Underworld, London
- Written by Jono Coote
It’s been a long time, a semi break-up, a reformation and various side project releases since the last Filaments’ album What’s Next? showcased the musical innovation and talent that lurked within the South East punk scene. As such, a release party for the long awaited new album, including some of the finest punk and ska punk bands the UK has to offer, saw Camden station swarming with punks clutching cans of cider and falafel wraps from nearby takeaways. 
It didn’t take long for the local boys in blue to completely give up on attempting to enforce the rules of a no drinking zone - better luck next time lads. Arriving at a gig soon after doors open can often end up in the awkward position of being part of a crowd of three or so people watching the opening band and feeling sorry for them.
It shows how much of a name Beat the Red Light have been making for themselves recently that they opened to an already large crowd who had travelled down early to catch their unique brand of ska metal. While I am not the biggest metal fan there’s no denying that this band is doing something fresh and innovative, something clearly appreciated by the grinning, jumping mohawks down the front. A surprisingly punctual line-up for a Saturday night gig saw London punk legends the Restarts hit the stage not long after Beat the Red Light, getting heads and feet moving with their raw and snotty sounds. By now the place was heaving, getting soaked from half empty plastic glasses flying overhead was inevitable, and the crowd shouted along word for word as the band ripped through a set of throat reddening, socially-conscious punk rock.
Possibly the high point in a night of high points, Inner Terrestrials have been relentlessly touring the country’s bars, squats and festivals since 1996 with their fiery mash up of dub, punk, ska and folk. A couple of the band were playing an acoustic set at a squat party afterwards, but there was no suggestion of conserving energy as they played a furious set of ska punk which at various times was augmented by tin whistle or bazouki, and spanned songs from each of their albums. The craic levels were now through the roof, with the crowd sufficiently fuelled by music and booze and careening off walls, pillars and each other. Johnny One Lung wasn’t kidding when he took to the stage and pointed out that his band might have shot themselves in the foot with the support acts; none of them were going to be easy to follow. On the other hand, The Filaments have been dependently on-form pretty much every time I have seen them in the last 10 years or so, going back to when they were playing the side rooms of pubs to 20 people. At the launch of their third album, with a full capacity crowd who were baying for another round of musical carnage, there was therefore almost no chance of a bad show. The set list was light on the new record, with the band instead working through most of their first two releases, but this was no bad thing as the audience could shout along with every word. The odd new track still went down a storm, and as the band wrapped up their encore with a cover of the Cockney Rejects’ ‘Oi Oi Oi’ and their own ‘Bastard Coppers’, the sweat and booze-soaked crowd left in high spirits after one of the best gigs I’ve been to in years.