The New Christs — 1997 European Tour

New Christs / Panadolls — Brookvale Hotel — April 12, 1997

By Craig Regan.

The New Christs have an idiosyncratic way of doing things that seemingly fly in the face of normal commercial considerations.

Consider the following: They play once in a blue moon in their home town, with negligible publicity and an even smaller profile.

When they do play - and on my reckoning it’s the first time in nearly a year - they do so at a pub a long way out of town.
They bill the gig as an album launch and there’s not a CD in sight, even though there are enough attentive punters on hand to suggest quite a few copies could have been sold.
Even the venue - done up to resemble a tacky country and western bar with corrugated iron trimmings hanging from the roof and wooden log seats littering the floor - is surrealistic, to say the least.

This is a band that just doesn’t do things conventionally.

Determined to prove they feel the same way, it seems, are the Panadolls who take to the stage wearing silly hats.
They kick off their night with the Jim Carroll Band’s People Who Died. It’s apparently their last gig with this line-up for the time being and the little I see is OK.

Support act over, it’s time for the New Christs who obviously rehearse a lot in between infrequent gigs because their opening song, Comin’ Apart, is breathtakingly tight.

The set is mostly made up of songs from Lower Yourself with We Have Landed, When, the title track, Jenny and Annalise stand-outs.

Rob Younger is in tremendous form, animated and obviously relishing the chance to sing the new material live.

This is no big budget outing for the band despite the “CD launch” tag attached to the gig. Better to skimp on production and save your money for the airfares.

The cheap and crappy little PA is suffering no small level of overdrive with the meters peaking well and truly in the red, but the mix is outstandingly transparent and punchy in a room full of acoustic challenges.

Guitarists Mark Wilkinson and Al Creed (backing up after the Panadolls’ set) mesh nicely and the band sounds fresh and dynamic.

Big Al has striking stage presence and will be a hit with European fans.

Encore time and the band cranks out a savage In State and Circus of Sour to be joined by a bespectacled midget who stands in front of Wilkinson at stage left and thrashes about, playing air guitar and looking very like that similarly proportioned American entertainer of the ’70s, Paul Williams.

That the band didn’t kick him off added a weird touch to a strange but satisfying night, one made even better by the fact that, thanks to my wife, I didn’t have to drive home.

Europe’s in for a treat. The New Christs rock.

New Christs — Ris Orangis, France / Le Plan — April 29, 1997

By Didier.

I took my car and drove 500km. Arriving 18h and the guys are all there, eating before the show. Rob is doing an interview. All are nice guys and we do the Christophe Colomb thing, exchanging presents !
The guest band are the Maniacs in a new power trio formation. Impressive and compact show. Then the New Christs. “We have landed” starts and for more than one hour, i’m splashed on the wall. They played a new “born out of time” version . The introduction is spoken and it took time for me to recognize it ! Great, great. Rob moves really well, swampy and intense. The 2 guitars fits really well and they all seems to enjoy playing.

My memory for that show is a little mixed-up and just like a giant bang. A big hand took me and let me fall at the end. It was my first time live with the New Christs, and it was like a one hour orgasm (I guess !). The sound was not so good, because of a strange place for the sound board (3 meters higher than the scene !). I also met Stéphane Saunier (he used to run Sonics and Closer records and those 2 labels put me into Aussie r’n’r) and it was fun.

New Christs — Berne, Switzerland / ISC — May 1, 1997

By Didier.

This time it’s only 350km ! Second time. The surprise is over and the show is really intense. You have to see Rob thinking quietly and writing the song list just before the show. No routine, just the feeling of the moment. The show was LOUD (it was loud also at Le Plan). Really. but the sound was better. Charles, the Swiss sound guy is behind the knobs. Not so much people for that show, and too few left at the end. But they do 2 encore, and “the seeker”.

New Christs / Lombego Surfers — La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland / Bikini Test — May 3, 1997

By Dario Bollini.

After a 300+ km trip from Milan to the very north of Swiss, in the last twinkling of daylight we finally reached our goal: BIKINI TEST, a dark and funny club lost in the green of the outskirts of La-Chaux-de-Fonds.
Tonight we were going to see a living legend: Mr. Rob Younger and the NEW CHRISTS straight from the Antipodes, promoting their last and powerful record, LOWER YOURSELF.
At 23.00 the local guys LOMBEGO SURFERS entered the stage and started to hit the crowd (not so huge, to be honest) with their interesting mixture of surf and punk rock (!!!): the four of them rocked and rolled during a 45 minutes set, warming the audience up.
Just the time to change the drum set and to carry in guitars and beers (!!) and, exactly ten minutes past midnight, the NEW CHRISTS got on stage: a thrill ran through many backbones watchin’ Rob Younger approach the mike and starting out with FUZZ EXPO.
The band sounded raw and savage from the very beginning, with the two guitarists Mark Wilkinson and Al Creed riffing and soloing continuously and the powerful rhythm section formed by Pete Kelley and Chris Houllemare giving the right sustain to their high energy rock ’n’ roll.
But the real center of the night was “his blondness” Rob Younger: twenty years after his first appearance in the rock scene he’s still here with his psychosurf-like moves and, most of all, his talented and ductile voice.

The gig slipped away easily towards a lot of new songs (HERE & NOW, LOWER YOURSELF, I COME CHEAP, JENNY, ANNALISE, WE HAVE LANDED and BIG CITY) and, in spite of a lot of requests from the audience (I SAW GOD and NO NEXT TIME in particular), no old tunes were played but four excerpts from DISTEMPER (COMING APART, BURNING OF ROME, LOVE’S UNDERGROUND and CIRCUS OF SOUR).
During all the show, Rob seemed very disappointed with the PA quality, kickin’ the amp and callin’ for help from the service.
After 45 minutes the band saluted and left the stage, but the crowd yelled and asked for more, so the five returned and offer three more songs, taken from the LOWER YOURSELF BONUS E.P.
In conclusion, a good show but the cold audience and some physical problems (cough and cold) seemed to contain Rob’s performance while the rest of the band supported the leader in the right way.
The only thing that disappointed a little all the audience was the choice to not play the VERY old stuff: maybe next time, Mr. Younger??

New Christs — Bologna, Italy / Il Covo — May 16, 1997

By Savioli Gabriele.

I couldn’t believe it but yesterday night at half past midnight the band came in. Rob Younger is great and the band plays in a really hard and fast way! For sure, one of the best concert of this year, and one of my best concert ever. Unfortunately, there were not so many people (about 100), but you could see in the eyes of everybody that it was an event! I also met old friends and we said to each other :“we couldn’t miss it!”. The band played the following songs:

1. We have landed
2. Words fail me
3. Big City
4. Love’s underground
5. Annalise
6. No love again today
7. Born out of time (What a great version!!!!!)
8. The burning of Rome
9. Truly unaware
10. I come cheap
11. Lower yourself
12. When
13. Woe betide
14. Circus of sour
15. Party time
16. The seeker

OK, That’s all, thank you for keeping up a site like this!

Strasbourg, France / L’Écureuil — May 18, 1997

By Didier.

The band stopped by Strasbourg for a day off. Wine road, resting time and babbling. Memories for 10 years and a ton of 7" kindly signed by the guys (even my Minutemen 7" signed by John !).
But the best thing (musical one) was that : friends (Turbolove) were playing that night in a small bar. Mark, Peter, Al and Charles went with us to see them. After the Turbolove show, the guys went on stage for a jam ! Charles on drums, Peter on Bass and 2 guitars. After 3 songs, Peter was back on drums and Al on bass ! They played Dead Boy, Slave Girl (oh my god !!), Search and destroy (With Joel Turbolove singer singing with them), Circus of sour, 2 from lower yourself (i don’t remeber wich one as everything was crazy at that time). The guitars were signed (even the drumsticks !). So the secret Strasbourg gig was the best of all the shows. Ha ha ha ha !
Thoses guys are making an exhausting tour, and they take pleasure playing in a small bar for fun !

A funny thing happened when they started to play. It was on the Turbolove amps and guitars. My friend said : “what is that sound ? where does it comes from ? How do you do that ?”; Response was “crank up the bastard to 10 and play!!!”. My opinion is that there is something on the fingers ! It was a real crazy night.

New Christs — Heidelberg, Germany / Schwimmbad — May 22, 1997

By Didier.

This time it’s only 150 km ! The best show for the sound. The louder too. Small venue, 60 people and a great fever. 3 encore, that’s what i call respect for the public. I’ve also done an interview with Rob . We are now waiting for the next tour ! Come back guys !