AC4 at the Boileroom, Guildford. Pic: Wayne Chuter.
Having released one of my favourite albums of the year, I was looking forward to AC4 playing to a packed tiny venue. At the same time, I felt some trepidation as to whether myself and everyone there was only feeling this way because of Refused and how important they felt to us.
Turns out we had nothing to worry about at all. Short, sharp blasts of punk were the order of the day, with plenty of in-song banter between audience and band which put everyone at ease. One of the tightest bands I’ve seen in a long, long time. Which isn’t so surprising considering not one band member is under 35, a point they were keen on making (a deliberate attack on most modern punk bands or not was left to the audience to decide).
As I overheard on the way out; “it takes skill to play something simple that well”. A sentiment which I can’t help but wholeheartedly agreee with.
It’s just a bit of a shame that it takes a bunch of middle-aged punks to show us how to do it properly.
Wayne Chuter
