No Cause for Concern? Issue #7 | March 1983 | Page 12 | The Exploited

with Civil Terror and the RandyPeters

at the Jungle Club, January 26, 1983

Here we go folks, another review written in the wee hours right after the show and before the effects have worn off.

The opening band, the RandyPeters, were pretty good but unfortunately they were playing for the wrong type of audience. This audience was definitely a punk/hardcore crowd (with a few curiosity seekers thrown in) so the milder sounds of the RandyPeters weren't enough to get many of them going even though they do play good music.

To go back for a second, before they went on -- and after too -- the management was having lots of fun throwing everyone out who couldn't prove they were of legal age. So all three bands got together and said they wouldn't play until it stopped. So it seemed to stop, the RandyPeters played, then the management resumed harassing the patrons. One young fellow was roughed up and booted out by a very large, rather stupid looking bouncer (on loan from Hoopers) so at this point Civil Terror refused to go on until he be allowed back in. He was.

So on they went, did a bit of a sound check (having been denied one before the show) then broke into their frantic music, thrashing virtually non-stop until the monitors started fucking up about six songs into their set. Even with the monitors cutting out all the time they managed to finish the set with only a few barely noticeable screw-ups and the audience had a good time anyway. They even did "Stepping Stone" for an encore. (Then management kicked that guy out again.)

Finally: The EXPLOITED. Yes folks, there was a band with talent. Musical, that is. For striking up a good audience-performer relationship, they sucked the big one. The lead singer was a complete asshole and seemed to be doing the show for the handful of people who came down from Montreal while insulting the rest of us. Who needs that shit. There was enough tension in the air thanks to the management without the lead singer adding to it by being so damn condescending to the Ottawa punks (there were a few fights brewing between them and the Montrealers because of it, fun stuff boy). He also insulted the hell out of Crass which wasn't appreciated by many and when they finished playing -- after only about 25 minutes! -- shouts were heard from one person in the audience along the lines of "who do you think you are cutting down Crass?" and so on to which Wattie jumped down, found the guy who was still yelling and started pushing him around. He didn't do anything though, just walked away. So three cheers to Mike, the only guy with guts enough to stand up and call Wattie an asshole to his face. It blew any chance we may have had at an encore but it was more than worth it!

But quickly back to their show -- they were good musically and played with a hell of a lot of energy and violence which seemed to be the theme of the evening. Their only fault lay in what Wattie had to say between the songs and that they played too short a set not worth the cover charge. The general consensus was: "Good music, bunch of assholes though".

Bye,

-J.F.

some stuff I like and support:

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