A fairly recent addition to the London music scene, Werkhaus played host to a night of carnage orchestrated by Blackpool’s finest; Strange Bones.

The night was a celebration and an introduction to Strange Bones first major project ‘Blitz’ featuring an in-house art exhibition and live show. The exhibition was a visual demonstration of the album, not only displaying artwork of the traditional canvas form but also visuals depicting ‘Blitz’ as a project.

Being someone who is willing to admit when they are out of their depth I will be the first to say this review will not be touching overly on the exhibition side but more towards my area of expertise… Rock & Roll. So lets delve into that.

The night got off to a start with a high-energy performance from Bob Vylan. My first experience with the London two-piece really encapsulated what this night was all about; pure passion. 

The band who were set to perform support slots under punk duo Slaves this month in Warrington and London,seemed more than capable to face the growing Werkhaus crowd. I look forward to seeing more from these two in the future, definitely a band to look out for.

As the last few trickled through the doors into the venue,the music being played over the speakers grew quiet and the sounds of ‘Blitz’ took its place. With visuals projected on screens either side of the stage, everyone’s attention was focused on one single point, the dark stage looming between. Before you could catch your breath theband launched into action with their most recent release ‘Napalm Über Alles’. Channelling sounds from the 90s British rave revolution this is a slight shuffle in a different direction from strange bones older material that I for one fully encourage. It also didn’t take long for Lead singer Bobby Bentham to venture off the stage by launching his body off a 6-foot high speaker cabinet. This seemingly was inspiration to the rest of the audience who took turns to follow suit throughout the set like a group of punk infused lemmings. 

The rest of the set definitely maintained the intensity which Strange Bones brought to the East London venue, with songs like ‘Rats’ and the remix of Stormzy, Skepta & Avelino’s “Energy’ being the true powerhouses of the setlist. Energy in particular being a standout moment of the show for me, aside from the obvious “energy” it brings; the fact that whether its your first or tenth Strange Bones show you’re bound to at least know the chorus. 

With everyone bouncing and going bezerk to this punk-grime mash-up I saw people of all ages and backgrounds in the crowd. It seems as though Strange Bones have managed to forge a growing community around their music; no hate, no anger just people putting everything out there… Even if that did mean base-jumping off a speaker.

The main body of the show also saw the guest introduction of Jess from Calva Louise and of course guest vocals from the aforementioned Bob Vylan each only featuring for a single track however it was still cool to see a teaser of what future collaborative work could sound like.

After just over 30-40 minutes it was all over. 

We regrouped telling tales of the moshpit, like military veterans recalling battles from years past, chants for one more song spread across the room. Everyone wanted more, and quite frankly so did I. 

With modern politics feeling like it’s at the brink of social implosion, Strange Bones is just the sort of voice that should be heard, and at what better venue than Werkhaus. Situated on Brick Lane in the heart of London’s East End, between the factories and breweries that made London the city it is. This is a socialrevolution. Blitz is coming.