Monday 10/12/07 Future of the Left, Kong, Fox Cubs @ Kings College, London

Whoever invented the working week should be taken out to sea and keel hauled. With the upmost respect for the big chief upstairs, Monday’s should also be tossed out the window and replaced with a beautiful, stress-free white void of workless bugger all. That said, indie bands have to work too and there are always enough students around to fill a room to listen to one of the UK’s most fearsomely awesome bands go through their apocalyptic motions. Formed from the ashes of Cardiff’s much revered, but unfortunately now defunct, McClusky, and inventive noise merchants Jarcrew, Future of The Left are flying the Welsh flag loud and proud on planet indie.

Earlier, new kids on the block, the aptly named Fox Cubs, look and feel uncomfortably out of place on the KCLSU stage. Their fashionable brand of slick post-punk stinks with boring old synth work and goes down like a razor blade chaser. It’s awkward, but it’s Monday and Monday’s are awkward. That’s what the day (in this case, night) was engineered to do - but testament to the Brighton quintet’s mettle, songs like ‘You Never Learn’ and ‘Beasts of England’ are clear cut diamonds in the rough; cack-handed as their addition to this bill may be.

Then, as if the world’s maker decided to go postal on our Monday-night arses, mental asylum escapee’s Kong, take the stage. Recently reformed after a long hiatus, the Dutch trio, decked out in red pyjamas (possibly soiled) and the same kind of masks usually worn in armed robberies make KCLSU feel like a sonic torture chamber. As if they took a buzz saw to a wet dog’s backbone, the band’s instrumental metal chunk awakens the predominately male crowd into rapturous applause. And with stage banter something along the lines of “Mmm gummmpf, zaagga mmm...you’re mother was in my bath tub last night...” capped off with a big golly hocked onto the stage, it’s little wonder why shock factor plays such an integral part of their dynamic. 

Taking the stage to little fanfare, Future of The Left go from 0-100mph in the blink of an eye with ‘Manchasm’, ‘Plague of Onces’ and the diabolical ‘adeadenemyalwayssmellsgood’ smashing through a fullish KCLSU with the force of a jet engine. Andy Falkous looks like the Muppets’ Beaker, as furious as a tryant and fit as a fiddle as he screams through ball-tearingly loud versions of ‘Be Your Own Leash’ and ‘Gymnastic Past’. And while the aggressive scuzz rock shtick is a fundamental link to both the past and electronic-brushed future of FOTL, the comedic lyrics of songs like ‘Wrigley Scott’ along with the razor sharp wit of Andy and bassist Kelson Mathias’ stage chat creates a nice equilibrium. It’s the yin to their yang, if you will… or maybe their brutal best vs. a hilarious inner child. Either way, Monday’s remain thoroughly rubbish but with the help Future of The Left’s explosive hair-trigger rock, Tuesday is starting to look a whole lot better.