The two bands appearing tonight at London’s legendary 100 Club are no strangers to each other. The Masonics having supported the headliners on numerous shows and tours and that’s understandable; they share a lot of sonic similarities, both peddling a rather nice line in high octane garage rock, and that’s exactly what The Masonics serve up this evening. Opening track ‘Going Down Fast’ is particularly pertinent and will signpost the rest of their set, the band cramming 15 songs into 35 furious minutes. They certainly don’t believe in procrastination, between song banter is kept to a minimum and ‘I Just Don’t Care’ and ‘Ride Your Pony’ trip over themselves in a race to tumble from the speakers. It’s a kind of windswept, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it type affair, but don’t label them generic because nothing could be further from the truth. Whilst it would be unfair to single out any one band member, drummer Bruce Brand is the glue that holds things together ,delivering a tight-but-loose swing that gives the band an exorbitant amount of freedom which opens up numerous musical avenues. It means that when The Masonics are joined by vocalist Ludella Black for a few numbers (most notably ‘You Waster You’) to close their set, it sends the band on another unexpected tangent which suggests you pigeonhole The Masonics at your peril.

A European tour that’s found the 5.6.7.8’s stomping across much of Western Europe comes to a fitting finale at the iconic 100 Club. With a long and storied history, it’s a venue that’s hosted some of music’s biggest names, and must be intimidating for any band due to appear here, but if any band can rise to the challenge, the 5.6.7.8’s can and tonight marks their third appearance at the venue. Arriving with little fanfare but making a big impact, ‘The Barracuda’ immediately sets speakers smoking (and pulses racing) with foot firmly on the (distortion) pedal and a surf twang that cocoons the listener in tightly wound ball of fuzz. As with The Masonics, the 5.6.7.8’s operate as a trio and they derive a lot of power from such a combination; their sound is boiled down into it’s purest form, and with all the fat and impurities removed all that’s left is primitive, unadulterated song. It’s the musical equivalent of 100% proof alcohol, being both intoxicating and highly flammable, the following ‘I’m Blue’ being the spark that lights the flame. As with the best three-piece groups (Budgie, Motörhead, Rush), the 5.6.7.8’s create a sound that’s far bigger than their constituent parts, this Tokyo trio achieving it through a love of that Spector Sound and their three point harmonies. If clarification is required then it soon arrives in the shape of ‘Three Cool Cats’, the vocals bouncing around like a silver ball between the bumpers, and ‘Woo-Hoo’ where the band trill like the sweetest birdsong.

Such is the depth and breadth of the 5.6.7.8’s discography, someone is always going to feel aggrieved at the song selection (my personal bugbear is the absence of ‘Harlem Shuffle’), but when nuggets like ‘Mothra’ and ‘Bomb The Twist’ are included, few can have any serious complaints. There’s something about the band’s performance that gets the good vibes flowing, it’s a musical celebration that gets the terminally uncool dancing and the tone deaf singing. It’s with a rocket-fuelled ‘Telstar’ that their set comes to a conclusion, but not before they return for three well-earned encores. Another thing The Masonics and 5.6.7.8’s share is a love of Miss Ludella Black who returns to add vocals to a lively rendition of ‘What’d I Say’. That should have been the end of the show, but in one of those magical moments in live music, the band go off script and return for some unplanned encores with ‘Guitar Date’ and ‘Hanky Panky’ sending many present into states of delirium, before an instrumental jam brings down the curtain, the lights raised and sound cut before the band can play any more. It all conspires to make this a gig that’ll live long in the memory.

5.6.7.8’s Set List:

1. The Barracuda
2. I’m Blue
3. Dororo
4. Road Runner
5. Dance In The Avenue A
6. Hey! Mashed Potato, Hey!
7. Three Cool Cats
8. Chopped Onion Boogie
9. Mothra
10. Ki Kya Shout
11. Woo-Hoo
12. I Walk Like Jane Mansfield
13. Bomb The Twist
14. You May Dream
15. Telstar

Encore:

16. Beat Girl (Main Title)
17. Come See Me
18. What’d I Say

Encore 2:

19. Guitar Date
20. Hanky Panky
21. Jam