Feast of Punk Rock on the Pier

Flesheater’s Ball, Hastings Pier June 28 1979
(from Jonathan Mendenhall, Bexhill News)

Featuring:
The Piranhas, Nicky & the Dots, the Lillettes, Smeggy & the Cheesey Bit
s

"Multiplicity of crew cuts, Mohican tufts and straightforward hacking jobs would have been enough to turn Vidal Sassoon grey. It was the full splendour of punk colour adorning the Pier ballroom last Saturday with orange and purple blobs and stripes bouncing to the beat of the Flesheater’s Ball. An inevitable but sad reflection on our times that a group called the Lillettes should be christened with a barrage of sanitary towels as soon as they walked on stage...But from underneath it all emerged an impressive bunch of five very unpunkish musicians whose melodies contained great smatterings of racey rock. Heavy, clipped strings and treble from Dave Robson (guitar) and Mick Perrin (bass and accordian) produced powerful harmonies with the girations of these talented two, pivoted on either side of the stage, setting the whole unit moving.

Cant get no Satisfaction???? (Ed) was their best effort with Air Conditioning and Saturate Yourself????? giving the drummer and accordion player a chance to show off their rather veiled prowess. Sorry Barb Dwyer, you’re a nice looking punk but your voice rather ripped into me and I couldnt quite catch your vowel sounds.
Nicky & the Dots, a totally unflamboyant
but vital, hard-working band enthused their audience, and justifiably so. The band revealed a committed loyalty to their fawning fans and Nicky, never leaving the footlights, jerked and jived at them until beads of sweat glistened on his brow. Once again it was a group of heavy staccato treble with the bass player thrusting in where he could. The Dots have an alert, plucky drummer and a rather flashy keyboard player. Particularly liked their Linoleum Walk number, available on Small Wonder records. Pat on the back for Mick O’Dowd and Pier authorities. 500 youngsters had a good old shindig with not a bovver boot in sight."



More Flesheater's Ball

- Blimey, you must have been at another gig mate! Apart from not getting the Lillettes song titles, the reviewer stopped here and not even a mention of the main act, the Piranhas