The Shitty Limits at Rough Trade East

The Shitty Limits at Rough Trade East

20 February, 2009
by: Stevros

Music isn't as black and white as it used to be. With CD sales dropping like flies, digital sales higher than foreseen, and a vinyl revival to complete the contradiction, it is a confusing time to be in the industry.

Rough Trade – the shop that was inaugurated by Geoff Travis in Ladbroke Grove before an established distribution network for independent records even existed – has gone through many changes in the last thirty something years. Its checkered history starts with a blossoming during the post-punk era, getting into the 'big league' with The Smiths before going into administration not once but twice. Come 2009, Rough Trade is owned by Beggars Banquet, effectively a conglomerate, with a hierarchy and distribution by major label Warner. That such a self-sufficient stalwart independent has become part of a major cartel is a sign of 'the modern age', as The Strokes might say.

On the positive side, with every door that closes, another opens. Screw Beggars Banquet; The Shitty Limits are the new Rough Trade. Hailing from Guildford, High Wycombe and Reading yet based out of one house in Reading (an unlikely parallel to the Discord House in DC, or the original Rough Trade community). This serves as practice place, warehouse, factory, home and Limits HQ. Putting up bands, putting on shows, putting out records, trying to take over the world, incessant unaided touring and telling the NME to stick it in between day jobs: these are the Limits' fortés.

Today this garage punk band bring their carefully crafted pop songs and their bratty southern following to 'tick a box' by playing a showcase at Rough Trade East. The venue's bright lights and beer-free zone force their following to eschew their usual churlish behaviour of circle pits, crowd-surfing and stage-diving, in favour of standing and watching with typical in-store behavior of head nodding and awkward shuffling.

The Limits are often mistaken for merely a vulgar punk rock act, tinged with partial ineptitude, of simplistic one-string guitar lines and power chords. They are rarely given credit for being a creative, smart, exuberant and often hilarious rock and roll band, with undeniable pop sensibilities, held together by fast, rigid, impeccably punctuated drums.

The singer is as charismatic as Rollins or Westerberg: he's got an unusual suitability for leadership but is also personable and accessible even to people without a frame of reference for the band.

Today their set, played fast and confidently, is on a par with Fuck Buttons, Health, No Age and probably even Radiohead, who have all graced Rough Trade East with their presence. Despite the interlude forced by a broken string and amid amicable heckles of unprofessionalism, this smacks of a band that have come into their own. They are probably the best band in Britain.

The newer material is simpler and more complicated than anything that came before. It references the B52s and The Shivvers while also leaning more towards post-punk and power pop than their bratty beginnings might suggest. Dadaism's lack of respect for conventional aesthetic and cultural values combines with metaphysical conceits and turns of wit. But it's all in the form of immediately arresting, jarring even, short sharp tracks in the tried and tested punk formula.

Most of us were born too late to catch Born Against, The Descendents, Black Flag or The Replacements during their time, or even bear witness to Rough Trade while it was the enabler of independent music. But we can still behold (or even beware) these southern lords. Beware The Limits!

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Stevros