So, everyone’s at Reading festival. Haven’t they heard that it’s Blakfish day? Don’t they know that they should all be at home crying into their pillows over the loss of one of the greatest British bands that never “hit the big time”?
It’s been three years to the day since the release of their incredible debut ‘Champions’, and today we will mourn like we do on Meet Me In St. Louis (RIP) day every year. Some bands are doomed in a rather Shakespearian way, and it was to be that Blakfish faced an untimely demise.
To this day, I have a warm place in my heart for the band, and near the top of “My List Of Things To Do When I When I Win The Lottery” (not that I even play) is paying them all an obscene amount to play shows together again. That said, I’ve also got “fuck off around the world and never come back” on that list so the timing would have to suit.
Anyway, before I even started this writing about music lark (or “The Glory Days” as I call them), I put on shows in Brighton with my good friend Cara, and by all accounts I think we did okay for two people who didn’t really know what they were doing. We put on plenty of bands on the Big Scary Monsters roster and I remember booking Blakfish for the first time around time they appeared on the label’s ‘6 Machine’ compilation.
Over the next few years, I put the band on in a range of venues and, no matter the place or time, they were always incredible. As more releases came, the band got better and better. When This Town Needs Guns pulled out of one of our Great Escape showcases at The Hobgoblin (memories!), Blakfish stepped up to the mark to headline in the best way possible and turned the place into a sweaty party. I have to say that my favourite time putting the band on would also be my last. They’d pulled out of the Brighton leg of their tour with Gay For Johnny Depp and Outcry Collective in 2009 and came back to do a “make up” Christmas Show for me at Hector’s House. The performance included a very rare live rendition of their fantastic Christmas song (which Hassle didn’t release in the end, shame on them!), complete with elf hats and ridiculous vocals from all of the members (check that out below).
I maintain that ‘Champions’ is one of the most interesting debut albums by a UK band in the last decade, and it’s a true shame that the band never quite got to reach the heights they had the potential to reach. It was also a shame that the final show happened without Sam, but such is life – it made for quite the evening in Brum, though.
Rather than continue on with how much I miss them, I’ve compiled my top five Blakfish moments for your listening pleasure. If you’ve never had the joy of listening to the band, please start here and go and get their back catalogue stat. It’s rather good and Spotify only has two releases on it (grumble).
1. ‘Economics’
Opener of ‘Champions’, ‘Economics’ speaks, like many of the band’s songs, to a bored and apathetic youth. The opening riff makes the song instantly recognisable, and sums up so much of what the band’s sound and message was.
Best line: “We know that there’s a problem and why the economy’s so bleak… what we all earn in one year, footballers earn in one week”
2. ‘Carnival Carnivore’
This track closes down the original version of ‘See You In Another City’, and showed a band with plenty more to offer than most math bands around at the time. It showed attention to detail in the way that the melodies intertwined, and is worth an inclusion for the incredible progression through the middle section alone.
Best line: “Sweating in this waiting room where I once held my breath for you. Hours passed and I sat still bored. Next time it won’t happen – you can be assured”
3. ‘Preparing For Guests’
The track that really put Blakfish on radar for a lot of people, ‘Preparing For Guests’ was a statement of intent from the band, and saw them move onto much more intelligent music than they’d ever previously made with previous EP ‘Gold’. It’s a simple, bratty punk song about day-to-day life, and showed the band at their most visceral.
Best line: “No one comments on the state of this house”
4. ‘We Beg, We Borrow, We Steal’
In essence, the perfectly balanced Blakfish track. Speaking – like ‘Economics’ before and much of the rest of ‘Champions’ – of apathetic modern life in the UK, it showed excellent attention to detail in arrange and great technical instrumental skills under the clever vocal trade offs between Peckett and Sam. The latter was Blakfish’s most redeeming feature, and the character of the two vocals made them what they were.
Best line: “Society’s torn – there is a war no-one thinks they’ll win but I’m not sure. Work or play, slave or chain, micro meals or gourmet?”
5. ‘Ringo Star – 2nd Best Drummer in The Beatles’
Possibly the best Blakfish track ever written, with the best set closer singalong that a band’s knocked together in a long time. ‘Ringo Starr…’ speaks of the state of the band’s local scene and the effect of “shit music” and “shit drugs” on their surroundings. The lyrics typify the band’s themes – kicking out at the world around them and spitting in its face. A true masterstroke from the band, and the best track in every set.
Best line: “It could be worse… We could be dead. I don’t know how we survived, but all I know is we did”
So, those are my favourite five Blakfish songs. You’ve probably got your own (I’m right, though), but have a listen and join in the mourning of their passing with us today and every 24th August. Here’s hoping they’ll return to save us from awful metalcore sometime.
TOM AYLOTT
IT COULD BE WORSE
WE COULD BE DEAD
I DON’T KNOW HOW WE SURVIVED
BUT ALL I KNOW IS WE DID
IT COULD BE WORSE
WE COULD BE DEAD
I DON’T KNOW HOW WE SURVIVED
BUT ALL I KNOW IS WE DID
IT COULD BE WORSE
WE COULD BE DEAD
I DON’T KNOW HOW WE SURVIVED
BUT ALL I KNOW IS WE DID
IT COULD BE WORSE
WE COULD BE DEAD
I DON’T KNOW HOW WE SURVIVED
BUT ALL I KNOW IS WE DID
IT COULD BE WORSE
WE COULD BE DEAD
I DON’T KNOW HOW WE SURVIVED
BUT ALL I KNOW IS WE DID
IT COULD BE WORSE
WE COULD BE DEAD
I DON’T KNOW HOW WE SURVIVED
BUT ALL I KNOW IS WE DID
ad infinitum