Brighton and Hove News »The Atom Jacks organize a« bunker party »at Hope & Ruin
THE ATOM JACKS – HOPE AND RUIN, BRIGHTON 4.12.21
Local concert DJs and Stay Sick promoters put on a stunning free entry event tonight called “Messy Trashmas – TrashGaragePunkSurfbeatRockNRoll Dance Party” 9am to 2am at The Hope & Ruin’s ground floor bar on Queens Road, Brighton.
We were late for the party after reviewing elsewhere, but arrived just in time to catch the whole 50 minute set of Atomic jacks which took place from 10:35 p.m. to 11:25 p.m.
Obviously, this was a big draw, as the street-level bar was filled with British-born revelers and many foreign friends, ranging in age from 18 to 60 years old. It’s wonderful that musical events like this bring people together.
The last time we met the Atom Jacks was at Prince Albert on October 24, when they were headlining with Lancy & Nee as good as Mandelbrot shakes (which I also spied in the public this evening). You can read our review of this evening HERE. As we talk about who was in the crowd, I noticed in front of me Robber and Tom from Gaye Bykers on acid, which we reviewed upstairs here at The Hope & Ruin on November 20 – Check out our review HERE.
Back to Tonight and based in Brighton (but originally from Chichester) Atomic jacks trio consisting of former BIMM Brighton student Jamie on guitar (he), Lin on bass (she) and Sam on drums (he) were as usual protected from the nuclear fallout on Saturday night by wearing their suits of Hazardous Materials Protection with their last name badges inscribed on each (Hewitt, Hoare and Gasper).
They offer the intriguing nuclear surf of the bunker and once blew up the roof of the Worthing Surf Festival as well-deserved headliners, and are now entertaining ‘The Hope’ revelers with their live show of surf rock instrumentals. . The Atom Jacks are a detachment of Civil Defense formed to inform the general public about the actions to be taken in the event of an atomic threat. Through music. For science and your own safety. Surfing on nuclear energy. Kaboom ”.
We were served 15 original compositions which are all instrumental and a cover (‘Dead city’ by The Specials) which was their encore track. Behind them was a screen showing clips of period movies, mostly from the Cold War, which put everyone in the right frame of mind. Their second issue “Enter the forbidden zone” was particularly good and during track four, ‘I am a Berliner’, Jamie made his first foray into the crowd with his guitar. I suspect this refers to John F. Kennedy’s anti-Communist speech in West Berlin on 26 1963,
Tune in five (‘Kaitak Connection’) we were informed by spokesperson Jamie that it was an airport. So it would be Kai Tak International Airport which was used in Hong Kong from 1925 to 1998. I was rather a fan of Lin’s booming bass playing on ‘Bunker Party’, which led to the only medley of two songs from their set ‘Surfin’ JFK ‘//’ Titan II CPU ‘. By the following two tracks ‘Mirage IV’ and ‘Mission Fission ‘, there was the start of our second mosh pit of the night, having survived an earlier one at the Green Door Store.
The Atom Jacks set was a real stomping boon and Lin and Jamie venturing into the crowd weren’t afraid to pick up radiation from us. I think the trio were even surprised at how likely everyone had become. I love the music from the 60s spy movies in their style and unfortunately it ended at 11:25 pm.
The Atom Jacks setlist:
‘Detonation’
“Enter the forbidden zone”
“The LOX man (theme of liquid oxygen)”
‘I am a Berliner’
‘Kaitak Connection’
‘Bunker Party’
‘Surfin’ JFK ‘//’ Titan II CPU ‘
‘Mirage IV’
“Fission mission”
“MIG Diplomacy”
‘MK Ultra’
‘Dead hand’
“MIRV of the dead man”
‘Seb Tropicana Atomic Dance’
(bis)
‘Dead city’ (Promotion coverage)
Check out their Bandcamp page HERE.
Support for tonight came from Scavengers which we sadly missed while we were at the Green Door store looking at chubby and gang. Read our review of this concert HERE.
Our latest report on The Scavengers at “Punk Picnic 2” at the Brighton Open Air Theater on 7.9.19, where we reported that they were “A four-piece band led by Ian R. Anderson, who is best known for leading the Leicester punk garage band Crazyhead from 1986. There’s a distinct rockabilly / rock’n’roll vibe with these guys and so if you were to merge Iggy Pop / Stooges’ daring tracks with the Stray Cats, then you can see where they’re coming from ”.