'Till the last bullet!

It was the 26th of may, in the year 1986... i was there at The Big Club in Turin waiting to see the first italian appearance of the Reid Brothers, aka The Jesus & Marychain, the last british "ready to use" phenomenon in pop music. What a night it was, with tons of dark & goth people with their Robert Smith's t shirts, heavy rimmel & black nails. But me and my friends were not ready for what happened next when suddenly came the ghost of the greatest band on earth, The Clash and gave a fist straight in our white mascara faces! The Gang came on stage that night supporting J&MC and it was incredible, an italian band that sounded exactly like our punk maestros. The band played with a lot of power and anger setting the audience on fire. What a an impact they had on the crowd with their rockabilly haircuts and red bandannas. Based on the excitement of the crowd and the group’s intensity, the Gang did not come across as a mere opening act, they were pure r'n'roll! They came from Marche, one of our reddest land and they know how to fight for their rights and for their music, no matter if someone came before them . They were amazing in their songs and in their Clashist poses and I could'nt believe that they were even better that their original inspiration. Early punk-era cuts like “Night in jails” and obvious concert closer “I Fought the Law” were been honed by the band, with an original garage-born buzz replaced by the wallop of a confident, practiced band. Never seen anything like this in Italy... so they were not just simple clones, time will prove that they could play as an international great band... soon they will leave those White Riot style just to meet an artistic evolution similar to the Strummer-Jones band, close to the real rock and roll and reggae and soul spirit of Sandinista. Then came a collaboration with Billy "MyGod" Bragg and the caribbean reggae echoes, then came the folk ballads and their masterpiece "Le radici e le ali", equally distant from their uk models as from the italian traditional "cantautori style". But I wanna come back to that night at the Big Club just because that was the moment we all understood what really matters in music, the roots and the spirit of 76, not the passing fashions . An attitude or a way of life, not a style. Once again my friends, Libre El Salvador, Libre El Salvador!!!