I think, in the modern age, they call it “triggered.” That is, the suppressing of some memory or other that you have forgotten, and which is set off again, by an event.
Now, I’ll resist the urge to use the catch phrase that used to follow Black Spiders around, but, you know I am thinking it.
I’ll explain.
The lead track here is a cover The Easybeats “Good Times”, But thing is, I don’t know that version as well as I know the Jimmy Barnes and INXS one. Oh we loved that one. Or I did, until I was at my best mates house as a 12 year old and we were watching The Lost Boys – the film it came from – and I was so scared I had to make him turn it off (no harm was done and he’s our very own Donnie, we are all good even 30 odd years on), but if that didn’t tell me that I was going to be a wuss, then I don’t know what did, frankly.
Anyway, there’s another reason to be reminiscing. Because this is The Black Spiders comeback single and I had all their singles and EP’s, I got their album on Pledge, with the vinyl and the t-shirt, and four years ago, I was at their last gig in Birmingham. In short, I love the band and I am a big fan.
These four songs firstly prove why, but secondly they show the diversity they always had. That is to say, they veer expertly from the …..well good time, of “Good Times”, to the downtuned riffing of “The Weight”, somewhere neatly in-between Corrosion Of Conformity and Alice In Chains.
Frankly, then, nothing much has changed.
They’ve always had something of the misty swamps about them, and as long as Pete Spiby and Ozzy Lister are together they probably always will – plus any band with a third guitarist means business and these boys have.
The headline change, I suppose is the addition of Wyatt Wendels on drums – and never mind his day job, by favourite thing about him is this: As far as I know, me and him are to the day, the same age. He probably wasn’t scared by The Lost Boys, mind you, but whatever.
He beats the life out of his kit on “Ancient Astronaut”, which is slightly creepy, and slightly psychedelic, but if ever you wanted to know about why this band was always one of the best on these shores, here’s this: “Power In The Darkness”, possibly the best thing here, is a thunderous slice of rock n roll that makes a hook out of the line “Jesus loved the Devil out of me”. If ever there was a line Ricky Warwick wished he’d written, then its that one, right?
And remember, these are b-sides in the true sense. Proper unreleased tunes, like The Wildhearts, Mansun, or Silver Sun used to do. No messing – these are “Good Times” indeed. Welcome back, boys.
Rating 9/10
