Mick Mercer Books

30/12/2025

ON THIS DAY ... in 1991 - SOHO. 27 photos from the Town & Country, Kentish Town freely available for the next seven days at https://mickmercer.substack.com/p/on-this-day-in-1991-soho - free to subscribe. I don’t currently have anything for December 30th so here’s the mighty Soho at the T&C in February, 1991. The eagle-eyed among you my recognise Leigh Gorman on bass, and Ed Chesters on drums.

27 photos from the Town & Country, Kentish Town

29/12/2025

ON THIS DAY ... in 1978 - THE SLITS
31 photos from the Lyceum on December 29th 1978 freely available to view/download for the next seven days at https://mickmercer.substack.com/p/on-this-day-in-1978-the-slits-2f9 - free to subscribe. I’ve posted some of these before but these are newer, better scans. Enjoy!

28/12/2025

ON THIS DAY ... in 1978 - THE SLITS. I posted the other half of the photos I had from this gig earlier in the month, now here’s the rest. Chaos incarnate! 25 photos from the Lyceum, 28th December 1978 (supporting The Clash) freely available for the next seven days at https://mickmercer.substack.com/p/on-this-day-in-1978-the-slits-3a8 - free to subscribe.

24/12/2025

ON THIS DAY ... in 1995 - SODA
22 photos from the Laurel Tree in Camden, 1995 at https://mickmercer.substack.com/p/on-this-day-in-1995-soda - free to subscribe.

22 photos from the Laurel Tree in Camden, 1995

23/12/2025

ON THIS DAY ... in 1992 - FRETBLANKET
25 photos from the Powerhaus, December 23rd 1992 at https://mickmercer.substack.com/p/on-this-day-in-1992-fretblanket - free to subscribe.

25 photos from the Powerhaus, December 23rd 1992

22/12/2025

ON THIS DAY (roughly) ... in 1994 - SOLAR RACE
35 photos from the Dublin Castle, December 1994 at https://mickmercer.substack.com/p/on-this-day-roughly-in-1994-solar - free to subscribe.

35 photos from the Dublin Castle, December 1994

21/12/2025

ZOMBIE KILLERS / THE MELBIES / SQUANGEY BOBBINS - Speedway, Folkestone - 20th December 2025

Before I get into my burbling did you know there are some bands who don’t really understand why someone like me writes reviews or, more importantly, why I write them the way that I do? I’ve been aware of this for quite some time, and never really thought to address it, but in a way people being confused makes sense. To get what reviews were (and therefore are) you would generally have had to be reading music papers in the 80s or 90s and that means for anyone under forty something years of age it’s a potential mystery. So I get that side of things, especially as music magazines today are far drier than the music press used to be. A lot safer and really much duller. That said, after 48 years of reviewing I have no intention of Un-Micking myself.

You certainly notice very little actual reviewing these days online as most of it is simply lazy regurgitation of info bands have sent someone. Old school reviews are all but a thing of the past and proper music writers are, quite literally, a dying breed. What then may people expect from a review? Simply stating, ‘I think this band are interesting so you might too’ is pretty boring. I could cut and paste that week in. week out. but I’d rather try for something entertaining. I could be brutally realistic and write that you’re better off giving up now if you think you’re going to ‘get’ anywhere, but that misses the point that creativity is its own reward. So I always look for the positives, slipping in the occasional relevant comparison in case it increases the chance of people taking an interest in a band they’ve never heard before, and I shovel in some facts. All in the hope that sharing my enthusiasm, in whatever form that takes, might get people off their arses and out to see live bands. Oh, there’s also humour too, so let’s hope people aren’t allergic. And F**K YOU Stagecoach for cancelling two successive buses this night leaving me freezing like a gormless wa**er at the bus stop for an hour. Thanks to you I missed the first few songs of SQUANGEY BOBBINS.

Don’t bother looking up the word Squangey, I’ve already tried that. They made it up. A strange band, they juggle Punk and Indie throughout the set, with only the drummer truly safe from the singer’s herding instinct as at the tip of his boot he moves the bassist around, or simply lugs the guitarist to the edge of the stage and propels him into space. Keen to remain safe the drummer actually comes across as the busiest drummer on the planet. And I apologise to all drummers this fine evening because the wretched magenta/pink light (or filters) was operating throughout and so little light reached the farthest corner of the stage. All I really want for Christmas is for those lights to be donated to someone weird enough to collect such things so we need never see their like again.

Back to Squangeness abounding. They have some weird plan to try and be the first band from Margate to get an album (“Margate Crows”) in the charts and for reasons best known to themselves are releasing it with twelve different covers. Do I have that right? (Check the links below for more.) They plunge around the stage quite happily, and you wonder what direction their future will take them as their punkier side seems more fun, the indie side is clearly more musically alluring. Apart from the quaking drummer they all end in a pile on the floor.

THE MELBIES just keep getting better every time I see them and tonight I got real Mega City Four vibes, which will mean nothing to them but it’s a seriously high compliment. A punkier Mega City Four, obviously. The way they shift energetically through the gears and have precise dual vocal interplay, sometimes three voices, is now so good they’re a potent force.
The first half of the set was more inspiring than the second, seeming more on the serious side, but balance can be a curious thing, as it all ended on a raging high. They did their Cher thing again and they also wore Christmas apparel, apart from the sane drummer. Now jumpers, shirts and possibly even t-shirts I get but … who in their right mind decided a Christmas cardigan deserved to exist?

A ZOMBIE KILLERS gig is packed with incident but the real reason they’re the best local band is the fact their songs seem so simple that anyone can get into them really easily. The knack of writing songs that way only comes through experience, so they are clever bastards, even though they look gloriously unhinged. They guaranteed pulsating enjoyment from start to finish tonight, with their ‘Nuked’ split single (with The Melbies) to force down willing throats, and a verve-doused cover of ‘Ca Plain Pour Moi’, a song possibly released before any of them were born!

Océanne, doing her Miss Haversham Fancies A Night Out, bypassed the metal detectors and somehow got her flute through, so you have to admire her persistence but let’s hope there’s no truth to the rumour she’s planning to upgrade next year to the tuba. The guys all thrashed hell out of the songs with character and … well, that’s it really, isn’t it? They’re all characters, and when that happens a band just seems so much bigger. They dominate the stage, cranking out memorable songs while exuding charisma. They also get people singing along to ‘Anal Seepage’ which most psychiatrists would deem inadvisable.

What a fantastic way to end the musical year (well for me anyway), with brilliant bands in a brilliant venue, run by brilliant people. We are so damn lucky.

75 photos from the gig freely available for the next seven days at https://mickmercer.substack.com/p/zombie-killers-the-melbies-squangey - free to subscribe or just click ‘no thanks’ or ‘continue reading' and it lets you straight in.

20/12/2025

SOMETHING FOR THE WEEKEND? is my weekly column where I introduce you to the best new releases possible, which this week means Chaos Bleak, Regan & Bricheno, SENEX IV, Christine Plays Viola, Scheitan, Black Doldrums, The Marcelas, Electric Press Kit, Iamtheshadow, Grave Love, Endless Me, Mansfeld Bloom, Slow Danse With The Dead, Atom Atom, Constance Tomb, Shut The F**k Up, Prison Planet, Oddech, The Rights, Raderkraft, The Ginger Twins, Woomb, Mental Academy, The X-Friends, Victorian Darkwave, Decent Ruins, Beasuce, Bossferatu, Misery Party, Unboned, Hundefutter, Coldtrace, Cemento, Rise Of Mercury, Oniria, Suburban Spell, KK Verkefni, Absence+Alchemy, Void Waves, Langueur Monotone, Rude Films, Flesh, Clusterclauds and Marrowbone.
Click below - it's free to subscribe or just click 'no thanks' or 'continue reading' and it lets you straight in.

Chaos Bleak, Regan & Bricheno, SENEX IV, Christine Plays Viola, Electric Press Kit, Mansfeld Bloom, Slow Danse With The Dead, Constance Tomb, The Rights, Victorian Darkwave, Bossferatu and many more..

20/12/2025

ESCUCHA / MASS LINES / CROWMILK – Speedway, Folkestone – December 19th, 2025

Fierce, fantastic and fun, that’s the three elements all bands shared tonight, and while I still have no idea about modern punk and its hybrids I come away from gigs like this refreshed and mentally reset because I love noise, attitude and variety, all of which keeps boredom at bay. (I also appreciate a seat tonight as I think the reason I’ve been in agony recently is that I’ve slipped a disc!)

CROWMILK are, according to the poster, ‘hardcore screamo’, whatever that is. They are dressed like snakeoil salesmen, bowling into a desperate western town, always ready for a quick getaway. The difference here is that they deliver. I guess there is a bit of screamo to the vocals, some high agitation often evident, but I don’t know what he’s on about, though you can rarely tell first time round with any band, without familiarising yourself with a band’s music online beforehand. What I did notice and admire was the way this duo didn’t adhere to a set repetitive sound, the songs constantly bubbling away with shifting guitar dynamics and a flamboyant but subtle swing to the drums. A brilliant opener.

Then the geography teachers arrive, or so it seems. But hang on, the facial recognition software I call my memory kicked in and is that not Fire Pony’s drummer being held hostage by MASS LINES? Actually I don’t think it is, so you’re wrong. Probably twins. Here we have a more fluid, energetic band with a saucy swirling dervish of a singer, a resilient rhythmical joie de vivre, and some impressively gritty yet beguiling guitar. They get better as they surge along so it was a shame it seemed like a rather short set.

Last time I saw ESCUCHA I remembered that I have been in the company of psychiatric patients before. We had to section my dad once and while visiting him I inadvertently helped one of them escape. Realising I had company having left the hospital grounds I turned towards the odd chap next to me who then asked excitedly, “Where are we going now?” Hmmm. That very question hangs in the air tonight. Where exactly are Escucha going in the hardcore scheme of things? (Spoiler: pointless asking me.)

Now last time round I took photos by the electric chair inside the door, which meant plenty of shots of them tearing off stage, which they do again tonight, but it meant I didn’t get many of the singer, so tonight I choose the other side, and nab myself a chair to ease the stricken back. Here I observe everything, like being in the crow’s nest of a pirate vessel. I could have sworn there were more atmospheric intros on the little keyboardy thing last time, where tonight it seemed any languid build ups featured more beautiful guitar touches, and then at some point the plunger goes down and the band simply explode into their lava formation all over the floor.

Apologies for the dark photos but they genuinely don’t spend much time onstage, both guitarists drawn to the crowd, the bassist often following, even the singer launching himself in towards the end. Is this why they are exhilarating, because they are free to roam? Again, I have no idea what the singer is on about, howling away up there like some giant baby, but that doesn’t matter. They have a truly invigorating rhythm section with a brilliant bass sound, and feisty, flexible drumming, that gives the others a brilliant base from which to accomplish their guitar and vocal missions, with everything often converging into a tumultuous triumph.

The rapturous crowd roar meant it was a relief when they did come back for an encore. Admittedly they seemed flummoxed by a stray plug incident but Dougal soon sorted them out, and off they went again. This we needed, as we simply hadn’t had enough. Everyone required more. As it should be.

All band links and 61 photos in total are freely available for the next seven days at https://mickmercer.substack.com/p/escucha-mass-lines-crowmilk-speedway - free to subscribe or click on ‘no thanks/continue reading’ and it lets you straight in.

19/12/2025

ON THIS DAY ... in 1990 - THE POPINJAYS. 38 photos from the Borderline freely accessible at https://mickmercer.substack.com/p/on-this-day-in-1990-the-popinjays-746 for the next seven days. Free to subscribe.

38 photos from the Borderline, December 19th, 1990

18/12/2025

ON THIS DAY ... in 1991 - TH' FAITH HEALERS
48 photos from the Bull & Gate, 18th December 1991 at https://mickmercer.substack.com/p/on-this-day-in-1991-th-faith-healers-240 - free to subscribe.

17/12/2025

The punkiest band of all original Punkiedom (technical term, don't worry about it), THE SLITS were on blazing form during The Clash’s late 1978 ‘Sort It Out’ tour. I caught them five times on that and they killed it every night. I have shown these before but these are newer, much better scans. (Sadly, the negatives remain in a right old state.)
24 photos from the Lyceum on December 30th 1978 are available free to everyone at https://mickmercer.substack.com/p/on-this-day-shortly-ish-in-1978-the for the next seven days.