Losing Must

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author PP date 28/11/09 venue Märkbar, Copenhagen, DEN

An album by The Misfits is playing on the speakers, the bar is selling shots of Finnish vodka-based liquorice drink Salmiakki with a warning label "Try Salmiakki... it is Finnish, it is CRAZY".... yeah, I love checking out new bars in Copenhagen. You just never know know, you might end up discovering your new favorite bar by chance. Fair enough, Märkbar, a tiny bar at the heart of Vesterbro, Copenhagen, isn't my new favorite bar, but its capacity of less than 30 people and complete absence of anything even resembling a stage (just some tables pushed off for a space in the corner) makes it a perfect venue for a small underground punk show such as the one tonight: the debut show by Copenhagen skate punkers Losing Must. The amount of people actually present to check out the band can almost be counted with two hands, but at a place like this it doesn't matter because the venue seems packed thanks to its small size.

Losing Must

Since tonight's the first show by Losing Must, set up just for the band to display some of their songs to their closest friends and anyone else who might be interested, there's no support band and the band are casually sitting at one of the tables drinking beers prior to their show. A few shots of Salmiakki and pints of beer later for the undersigned and friend Alan, Losing Must make their way to the stage and kick start their high-intensity skate punk that manifests in the form of songs like "Jerkoff", "Slaves To Authority", "Finally", "Damaged Goods" and a bunch of new tracks that aren't on their demo EP. I wasn't actually aware of this prior to the show, but during "Jerkoff", the majority of singing is actually taken care of by their drummer, and although his Mxpx-esque vocals are quite good, it does appear a bit strange that the two members actually at the front of the...err...stage are just doing back up vocals. The remainder of the songs are mostly handled by the two other dudes, however, so no major problem here. However, what is a problem is the sound, which sounds precisely like on "Rising EP": incredibly lo-fi, DIY and all that. But what's worse is that the band don't yet have bigger amps and are just using the Märkbar *cough*sound system*cough* for their guitars, resulting in a mono sound where guitar's on the left, bass is on the right, and nothing's really at the center. It did put me off their set in the beginning, but as soon as a good atmosphere started developing once the band got over their initial shyness, it was easy to get used to it and accept that's just the way things are going to roll early on with any band's career.

The band spent lots of time making jokes about Sweden and Swedish people because of the bar's name, even putting on a Swedish accent while stating "Vi pratar svenska, Märkbar!". About half way into the set, the band asked for three volunteers, who each got handed a bottle of beer, and before they knew it, the band shouted "ready? Set? Go, bottoms up!" for a drinking competition. The winner received a copy of the band's EP and a t-shirt (as far as I can recall anyway). Fun times. Prior to the last song, the band caught the attention of the bar tender (an incredibly hot girl with curvy shapes and an awesome attitude... plus she loved The Misfits and other old school punk bands) for shots of Salmiakki and more jokes about Sweden, to top off a loose, easy-going atmosphere.

Overall, the night displayed a band who still have lots to work on with regard to their live appearance (tightness, amps etc etc), but at the same time the live show confirmed what I had suspected all along: their songs are great, and given the right production treatment... well it's too early to tell, but there's a boatload of promise of a bright future here, also demonstrated by one of the new songs that had distinct Pennywise influence and had me nodding along straight away. Most importantly, the show made me want to go check themout again next time they're playing near my area.

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