Kong at The Buffalo Bar

Kong at The Buffalo Bar

17 February, 2009
by: Sween

The Buffalo Bar is the kind a subterranean dingebox that is tactically necessary for dirty gigs. The right kind of can-you-beat-a-knife-wielding-psycho-to-the-only-exit ambience that sits well with lovely assailant hardcore + screaming.

As punters pile in, Sloppy Seconds take the stage wearing outlandish white Bugs bunny heads with gaffa-taped eyes. As last minute replacements of the cancelled supports I don't expect much; though theatricality smacks of intent.

A wall of nail-scraping static courses amongst drums battered to no rhythm. As the axe-wielding wabbit lurches forth, 'menacing' the small number of amused punters, the gag becomes evident. Their set pieces confirm the noise-rock send-up - a blackboard repeatedly emblazoned with 'IS'…a tiny plastic globe impotently savaged with a tent mallet.

This cosy lambast of extreme noise, the humour putting us in the comfort zone, simply serving to make Kong much more horrifying.

They emerge in plain red outfits, with/without trousers, wearing paint-daubed squash masks that make them look like Kiss after a horrific indoor pyrotechnics accident. They sound like that would too, but more unhinged. As Magpie's staring eyes burn into yours, and Lulu sways his bass wildly back and forth against the rhythm, they bash out the terrorizing soundtrack to a guttural disordered nightmare from which there is no escape. The howlings of a mentally disordered werewolf who does not understand, and is ANGRY.

Their 'banter' consists of incomprehensible shouting, staring, and unpredictable acts of violence. It's a rare thing for three asylum escapees to cope with odd time signatures - I was impressed and afraid.

Looking back, I now realise the extent of Plan B's malice – they've just put on the most unsettling, frightening bands you can get on the eve of Friday the 13th.

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Sween