Paranoid surf punk

A LITTLE itty bitty snow couldn't keep the punters from packing into the Olympia on Saturday night to catch Black's only Irish on his date current tour, and the faithful were rewarded with a helping of twisted, paranoid surf punk.

As the stocky ex Pixie took the stage with his band, he looked like he meant business, and as he tore straight into the choppy riffs and abrupt vocals of The Marsist, you knew that this was gonna be a weird trip to shouter space.

The band had only just arrived from a Friday night concert in Aberdeen, and didn't even get time for a sound check, so Frank and the boys: had to muddle through Fiddle Riddle until sound balance could be restored. Everything settled during Los Angeles, and this odd ode to Frank's home town displayed the man's oblique view of life in its best light. Freedom Rock was an anthem for record collectors everywhere, a call to all vinyl junkies to keep broadening their horizons.

Tracks from the new album, The Cult Of Ray, provided some good moments, particularly You Ain't Me and I Don't Wanna Hurt You (Every Single Time), but they also dealt a few dull interludes with Jesus Was Right and The Creature Crawling. However, the songs came quick and fast, and each one hovered recklessly around the two and a half minute mark.

Men In Black, the current conspiracy theory single, was a swift, strangled burst of sound, and Headache was speedily zapped before it could turn into a migraine. Kicked In The Taco tackled a subject dear to all men's groins, and it left an uncomfortable feeling long after the last chord.