Words and Pictures – Ward XVI – Louise Phillips / Louise Phillips Photography
Words and Pictures – Tragedy: All Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees & Beyond – Adrian Hextall / MindHex Media
A night of terror… and that’s just Lance! Tragedy returned to London with their glamtastic, 70’s themed rock stomp along with the sort of anthems that everyone and their Mum knows backwards. Support came from Ward XVI, telling the story of a young girl who experiences nightmares, visions, gets committed and goes on a killing spree… which is nice. Read on to see whether Lance makes it through to the end of the show or whether Ward XVI’s Psychoberrie takes him out with a rusty blade.
Ward XVI
Are you scared yet? Well, you should be!! Fake blood, meat cleavers and murder with more chainsaws than you can shake your blood-soaked fist at!! When the murderous purveyors of mayhem WARD XVI brought the asylum to The Underworld, Camden!!
If you love 80’s horror movie gore and ghoulish Gothic circus’s then you will love, and I mean LOVE WARD XVI!! Like a creepy hybrid of old school carnival and insane asylum!! Although influenced by the likes of Alice Cooper, Iron Maiden, Avatar and Rob Zombie, WARD XVI are not a band emulating their idols, far from it! Their music and their performance can only be described as exhilarating and absolutely mind-blowing!! During their 45-minute set, they took the audience on a creepy freaky ghost train, a mysterious musical journey into the darkest deepest realms of horror!! A homicidal nightmare that depicts the ghoulish story of Psychoberrie and her descent into madness and murder! Performing as their freaky creepy alter-egos with Psychoberrie on vocals, Doktor Von Stottenstein on guitars and vocals, Wolfy Huntsman on bass, Bam Bam Bedleam on drums and Rico Rameres and the terrifying Mother striking terror into the hardest of hearts from their very first track, the damn right spine-chilling ‘Mister Babadook’, a track so good, that Alice Cooper himself would be proud to put his name to it!! Psychoberrie’s powerful vocals and stage presence were absolutely captivating, with driving drums and Von Stottenstein’s guitar sealing the deal! But despite the catchy as hell music, what entranced the audience more than anything was the satanic entity skulking around Psychoberrie like some kind of demonic force!
Despite only having 45 minutes to whip the audience into a frenzy for all metal tribute band ‘Tragedy’, to say that WARD XVI pulled out all the stops was an understatement! They were a blood-soaked, murderous, magnificent horror masterpiece! Bursting with chainsaw welding maniacs, homicidal pigs, dead bodies and horror galore!! Lets’ face it, when a giant vodka swigging doll saunters through the pit, accosting their ecstatic and amused fans, you just know that it’s going to be a great night!!
Since the release of their first album, the 2017 ‘The Art of Manipulation’, WARD XVI have evolved into a tour de force, a horror art macabre work of performance art, polished, yet still somehow still gritty and enormously fun!! You get the feeling that at any moment something crazy could happen because inevitably, it will!!
With a performance of this calibre and having supported such musical heavyweights such as ‘Cradle of Filth’ and ‘Lawnmower Deth’, not to mention their triumphant performance at last year’s ‘Bloodstock Festival’, it’s hard to believe that this is a band who have barely made it down the M1, yet if tonight’s performance is anything to go by, then surely this is about to change!! It’s no surprise that ‘The Maid of Stone Festival’ have already snapped up this gang of maverick inmates to headline the Firestarter Stage on the Saturday night! No doubt they’re getting in first before anyone else snaps them up!!
Now, with such a great show, it could be easy to forget about the music, but it’s impossible to forget that away from the incredible showmanship, WARD XVI are first and foremost incredibly good musicians!! Their tracks are exploding with hard-hitting metal riffs, driving drum beats and catchy ska rhythms, not to mention Psychoberrie’s powerful and mesmerising vocals! There’s even a hint of electro thrown into the mix!! Every track is cut-throat razor sharp and absolutely brilliant!!
WARD XVI have developed a cult following over the last 7 years and have a devoted and slightly obsessed fan-base who are sweetly referred to as inmates! Their ‘inmates’ are so evangelical about their band that not only have they funded their soon to be released third album, but many of them have had their own inmate numbers tattooed on their bodies!! Can you get any bigger compliment than this!! This was never clearer, then in a beautiful moment later on in the set, when the crowd created a circle pit of sorts, like some kind of ring of pious dissidents on a pagan shindig!
Despite the success of their earlier material, what put WARD XVI firmly on the map on the UK music scene was the release of their 2nd album ‘Metamorphosis’! With big ballsy tracks and hard-hitting vocals reminiscent of Avatar, the album tells the story of Psychoberrie’s journey from vulnerable little girl to crazed psychopath!! Of the many songs they played tonight, one of the best had to be the final track of the set, ‘Toybox’ with it’s creepy as hell ‘Alice Cooper-esque’ intro, which almost sounded a bit Russian in a ‘My Chemical Romance’ kind of way! An absolute triumph!!
So, the final question has to be, how long will it be before Alice Cooper comes banging on WARD XVI’s door, if tonight’s performance is anything to go by then not very long at all!!
For future tour dates and to connect with the band visit: wardxvi.com
Setlist:
Mister Babadook / Imago / Burn The Witch / Shadows / The Flight / Adrenochromania / Cry Of The Siren / Toybox
Tragedy: All Metal Tribute to the Bee Gees & Beyond
Assuming the quotes on the band’s website are legitimate, then this review is best summed up by none other than Bruce Dickinson (the one from Iron Maiden in case you’re wondering).
“Tragedy rocks sweet balls and can do no wrong! They are great fun!”
That genuinely sums up the band in a single sentence. Whilst I sit writing quantity, dear old Bruce has done it in one fell swoop. To do the show credit though, we require a few more words. There is a reason that the cover picture features the band’s towel-boy and self proclaimed ‘idiot’. Lance is the heart and soul of Tragedy. The band might well shred, perform the greatest of disco anthems and sport more silver sparkly clothing than should be legally possible in a venue, but it’s all about Lance. In his white sailor’s outfit, flitting about on stage with, yes, the towels as required, and when lead singer Disco Mountain Man needs it, the mini-keytar, he is the glue that makes the show simply work.
As we looked around the room, the number of women covered in all colours of glitter outnumbered the number of men in denim and leather. This was no rock and metal show (despite the opening act’s shock-horror themed set) but a celebration of disco. That mid to late 70’s period combined with the best of the movie hits from the early 80’s (as shown below in the set-list) delivered songs that will remain, like Mt Rushmore, for all eternity and never get old. There is something endearing, enduring and wildly entertaining about the songs and when lathered up and rinsed off with more than a healthy dose of rock, the tunes that Tragedy perform gain a whole new lease of life. I’m not sure whether Tragedy introduce people to the joy of disco or whether the joy of disco ultimately draws people into a Tragedy gig but either way it works and then some.
Whilst you might think the songs themselves would bring back fond memories of discos \ nightclubs or drunken singalongs at karaoke nights or similar, certain tunes bring back other moments for the strangest of reasons. Who else remembers Cadbury’s Crunchie adverts and the chocolate roller coaster with the Pointer Sisters ‘I’m So Excited’ playing over the top? I didn’t know I did until somehow Tragedy unlocked that particular childhood moment for me. Similarly, the Grease soundtrack was one of the first few LPs I ever owned and back in 1978 was on constant rotation on my Fisher-Price record player. Thanks very much for that one as well fellas… this was turning into a real nostalgia trip.
Summer Nights, from the same album….. how did I know this word for word yet haven’t seen the film for donkey’s years? Again, no complaints from me although the strange looks from the people around me as I reached the heady heights of “Those summer-huh…. naaaahhhhh……high….yights…….” probably explained a lot.
And that, is the beauty of a Tragedy show…. pure escapism, blisteringly good music, (there’s no one out there doing this as well as they do – I can guarantee that) and Lance. Now we keep mentioning Lance for he shall always be revered by everyone (except the band who clearly use the poor lad as a whipping boy) but he never stops moving. Years ago, the tv comedy ensemble The Mary Whitehouse Experience used to make fun of Bez from the Happy Mondays, spoofing a performance and asking the dancer come vibe-guru “Just what do we pay you for?” and that same element of ‘but he doesn’t actually play or sing’ could be leveled at Lance but Lance brings the show to the people, he works the crowd, he energises the room and most importantly, the ladies lurrrrrve him.
Glitter flew around the room, it got in our hair, on my cameras, it got on my clothes and….. well I have no idea how it got ‘there!’ but it’s a week later and my shorts still look like a rainbow unicorn farted in them. Anyway… enough of that, back to the music.
If you want to test the strength of metal knowledge in a band like Tragedy, then look no further than their seamless ability to blend Slayer’s ‘Reign In Blood’ with The Weather Girls’ ‘It’s Raining Men’. Note for note perfect on both counts with Mo’Royce Peterson pulling off lick after lick like his life and sparkly glitter shorts depended on it.
‘Stayin’ Alive’ closed the main set, quite the achievement when you realise the inmates from the asylum in Ward XVI were loose in the building. Thankfully the band returned and ‘I Was Made for Lovin’ You’ was duly delivered so well that I could see the band licencing a new KISS franchise to take a wider show on the road. They closed, of course, with the anthemic ‘Dancing Queen’ and as we all piled out into the night, the hairspray and glitter also helping the ozone layer revert back to the 1980s, there wasn’t a frown on anyone’s face. If this is what pure entertainment feels like then as Oliver once mentioned, “Please Sir, I want some more!”.
Setlist:
Tragedy (Bee Gees cover)
Lay All Your Love On Me (ABBA cover)
I’m So Excited (The Pointer Sisters cover)
Islands in the Stream (Bee Gees cover)
Grease (Frankie Valli cover)
Summer Nights (Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey cover)
Take Me Home, Country Roads (John Denver cover)
She Bop (Cyndi Lauper cover)
Sweet Caroline (Neil Diamond cover)
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) (ABBA cover)
Without You (Badfinger cover)
It’s Raining Men (The Weather Girls cover)
You’re the One That I Want (John Farrar cover)
How Deep Is Your Love? (Bee Gees cover)
Stayin’ Alive (Bee Gees cover)
Encore:
I Was Made for Lovin’ You (KISS cover) (instrumental, part)
Dancing Queen (ABBA cover)
Tragedy are:
Disco Mountain Man , lead vocals, lead keyboards,
Mo’Royce Peterson, lead vocals, lead guitar,
Andy Gibbous Waning, lead bass, lead vocals ,
Garry Bibb , lead guitar, lead vocals ,
The Lord Gibbeth, lead drums,
Lance, towel boy, complete idiot
https://www.letsmaketragedyhappen.com/bio.html
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