"Ladies and Gentlemen... Welcome to the church. Welcome to the church of rock & roll!" front man Al calmly said to a sold-out Camden Barfly, a room packed with a mixed age group of dancers and moshers. "We are The mother fucking Computers".
The Computers took to the stage at the intimate Camden venue and exploded into a new song, 'Weigh Down'. It's an impressive track, not too different from the content of their most recent album 'Love Triangles Hate Squares'. It's a slightly awkward start to the set as the eager fans aren't familiar with the song, but needless to say, it got toes tapping and heads nodding.
'Weigh Down' flowed into 'Bring Me The Head Of A Hipster' which caused the crowd to get a bit more angsty. Eager youths shoved about at the front whilst the sides of the room were filled with slightly older fans, possibly being reminded of the sounds of Elvis Costello's 'Pump It Up' when The Computers jammed out 'Love Triangles Hate Squares', the title track from their 2013 release.
There was a mixture of new and old tracks. 'This Ain't Right', another new song did not fail to please. 'Rhythm Revue' was a favourite for the moshers as Screaming Al walked through the middle of the crowd to stand on the bar at the back. "I have to stand on the bar" he said. "I found out today that I am only 5ft 8 and that made me upset."
Shortly after the moshers had their moment, the dancers had theirs. The now very sweaty front man stood at the front of the stage after chucking his guitar across to the tour manager. "Now ladies and gentlemen, this is what I want to see." The keys kicked in and 'Call On You!' marked the start of swinging and a bit of ballroom dancing. Al jumped off the stage and grabbed the first partner he could, an also very sweaty and red teenager, and started prancing around the mosh pit in a ballroom dancing style manner. Everyone looked around for a partner, whether they knew the person or not as the front man was thrown about from fan to fan.
"This is the last song babies, because you know, music is dead!" Closing the 9 song set, the vocalist was back standing on the bar after calling for a wall of death during 'Music is Dead'. The powerful punk track that ended with Al crowd surfing from the back of the stage only left the hyper crowd wanting more from the Exeter five piece.
© Nathan McLaren-Stewart
The Computers took to the stage at the intimate Camden venue and exploded into a new song, 'Weigh Down'. It's an impressive track, not too different from the content of their most recent album 'Love Triangles Hate Squares'. It's a slightly awkward start to the set as the eager fans aren't familiar with the song, but needless to say, it got toes tapping and heads nodding.
'Weigh Down' flowed into 'Bring Me The Head Of A Hipster' which caused the crowd to get a bit more angsty. Eager youths shoved about at the front whilst the sides of the room were filled with slightly older fans, possibly being reminded of the sounds of Elvis Costello's 'Pump It Up' when The Computers jammed out 'Love Triangles Hate Squares', the title track from their 2013 release.
There was a mixture of new and old tracks. 'This Ain't Right', another new song did not fail to please. 'Rhythm Revue' was a favourite for the moshers as Screaming Al walked through the middle of the crowd to stand on the bar at the back. "I have to stand on the bar" he said. "I found out today that I am only 5ft 8 and that made me upset."
© Nathan McLaren-Stewart
Shortly after the moshers had their moment, the dancers had theirs. The now very sweaty front man stood at the front of the stage after chucking his guitar across to the tour manager. "Now ladies and gentlemen, this is what I want to see." The keys kicked in and 'Call On You!' marked the start of swinging and a bit of ballroom dancing. Al jumped off the stage and grabbed the first partner he could, an also very sweaty and red teenager, and started prancing around the mosh pit in a ballroom dancing style manner. Everyone looked around for a partner, whether they knew the person or not as the front man was thrown about from fan to fan.
"This is the last song babies, because you know, music is dead!" Closing the 9 song set, the vocalist was back standing on the bar after calling for a wall of death during 'Music is Dead'. The powerful punk track that ended with Al crowd surfing from the back of the stage only left the hyper crowd wanting more from the Exeter five piece.
© Nathan McLaren-Stewart
The band came back onstage to perform a two song encore that included the sing-a-long anthem 'Single Beds' before ending the gig. The band walked off stage whilst gig goers were still trying to grasp what had just happened.
Wall of deaths, ballroom dancing and a vocalist singing on the bar. It goes without saying that the band absolutely destroyed London... after all, they are The mother fucking Computers!
Keep your eyes out for a very special photo gallery of the band coming soon.
- Written by Nathan McLaren-Stewart (@nxths)
- Photos by Nathan McLaren-Stewart