Live Review: Tigertailz, Bradford Queen's Hall, 5th June 1990

TAPERED TIGERS

Britain's top glam band seemed to have settled comfortably into the niche of the big time. They seem to have cracked it?

Opening with "Sick Sex" from the Bezerk album, the boys pranced around the stage, masses of bleached hair tossed into place with hairspray. Pepsi Tate obviously couldn't keep still, playing bass constantly on the move. Jay Pepper peddled the pop rock riffs which are the foundation of the group's songs.

The gig began on a wrong note, as the vocals began before Kim Hooker opened his mouth. Backing tapes maybe?

Multi-layered harmonies continued as the band ploughed into "Shook Em Up." Hooker's gritty voice suited the song well. More sampled sounds led into "Noise Level Critical" with its big chorus.

The Steevi Jaimz Song "Living Without You" came out flatter than on vinyl. Hooker encouraging the crowd to sing it, covering his poor attempt? Yes, I am cruel but also truthful!

Pouts, pretty looks, and weak songs are not what I expected after hearing the record. Catchy hook lines and big choruses are still present, but only on backing tapes.

The two guitarists mimed the words on the occasions they managed to get to the mics. "Love Bomb Baby" is still, however, a great commercial rock song.

The glam was less evident this time, but so was the Talent which is a crime for a potentially good band.

Noise Level Critical: no chance!

Julie Wilby
Riff Raff

July 1990

Revenge...?

Riff Raff was a legendary rock magazine based in London in the late 1980s and 1990s. Edited by the ultimate music biz insider, Mark Crampton, and employing such talents as Mark Blake, Jerry Ewing, Mike Harris, Paul Smith, Chris Collingwood, Alan McCrorie, Simon Robinson, Lyn Guy, Anna Marx, Nick Douglas, Marion Garden, Peter "Grunty" Grant, Joe "The Crow" Mackett, Billy "The Kluck" Kulke, and, lastest and mostest, the incredible Liddell Brothers, Mark (a.k.a. "El Perro") and Colin (a.k.a. "Der Fly"). Unfortunately, Riff Raff was just too R n' R for its own good. A genuine working class rock mag, written, edited, and translated into 16 European languages in a drug-N-Jack-D-fuelled haze, often on the back of motorbikes, with spell checking by our staff of attentive rock bimbos (chosen purely for their blondeness and big knockers), it soon fell behind more trainspotterly, nerdish, and politically correct publications like Q, Kerrang, Mojo, Metal Hammer, and Horse & Hound. This website is an archive and kind of shrine dedicated to the writing of its greatest writers, some of whom, luckily for the Rock Kosmos, still continue to write about music. This is the REVENGE of Riff Raff...Rock on!