Janus Stark’s Electrifying Performance at The Underground: A Night to Remember

September 3, 2023 rocknews

I first met Gizz – formerly of English Dogs and The Prodigy – at The Deaf Institute, Manchester in ‘22, when he played with ex-Placebo Steven Hewitt’s Love Amongst Ruin, supporting Paul Draper. We’d chatted with Gizz briefly before that gig. Then to our surprise while Paul Draper was playing his set, Gizz came and sat with me and my Steve (different one!) and we had a right good natter! Fast forward to a cancelled gig in Wakefield and finally catching his band Janus Stark tonight at the Underground in Bradford. After a brief catch up with Gizz it was on to the music!

The Underworld was a new venue to me, a ground level bar which we didn’t get to really see as it was straight downstairs to where the bands were playing. The place plays up to its name with London Underground style pictures etc on the walls and arched seating areas, separated from the stage and dance floor by an American pool table and a ping pong table 😄 We’d unfortunately arrived too late to catch Damage 66 and just caught the end of their set; was a bit gutted in honesty as they looked very interesting! But caught the second band Mammoth Tank, a local Bradford punk band who despite having an equipment emergency at the start where a loaner bass was required were a good support!

From Peterborough, Janus Stark have been around since 1997 with a bit of a hiatus early to mid 00’s when Gizz reformed the band in 2018. Their album, Great Adventure Cigar, was highly rated by Foo Fighters and Die Toten Hosen and it was this album that made up the majority of tonight’s set. Janus Stark have been described as a fusion of Punk rock, hard rock, heavy metal and alternative and Gizz is certainly a shredder, bringing to mind more metal than punk with some ace fretwork. The songs are quite political and socially aware but the music gets the punters dancing! Gizz is in a chatty mood as well, putting it out there that we should all just love each other; there’s certainly too much negativity in the world right now

Stand out songs for me were “Every Little Thing Counts” which was featured on the soundtracks to two 1998 films, “Floyd What Are You

On” with great bass from stand-in bassist Jonny March of Resistance 77 fame

“Clique” was dedicated to a couple hailing from Wakefield, who knew every single word from every song and were thoroughly enjoying themselves near the front! The band were also joined by a gig goer who did his best Bez stage dancing and sharing backing vocals with rhythm guitarist David Pistolas 😄

The set was rounded off nicely with a one-song encore, a cover of Buzzcocks “Ever Fallen In Love” which is always a crowd-pleaser!

I’d definitely recommend catching these guys live, you won’t be disappointed!