Mission of Burma have lived a pretty unconventional musical career. Splitting after only four years and one album in 1983 due to guitarist Roger Miller’s tinnitus they looked destined to be a cult favourite but nothing more than a musical footnote in the history of American punk. However, since reforming in 2002 after an almost two decade long break the band have released four critically acclaimed albums and probably played live more often than in their original phase.
This slightly unconventional career path may explain the rather thin crowd that they face up to on a Monday night in Brighton. They neither quite fit the mould of a new band or a classic come-back act which means they don’t neatly fit into any musical boxes. This does mean that the crowd that does show-up is a pretty partisan set who want to hear the bands songs both old and new.
The band, aided and abetted by Shellac’s Bob Weston (who has taken on the tape loop role since they reformed), play a set that picks songs from across their career including brand new songs as well as singles from their first wave. This is a band that knows how to make a noise, distorted guitars, crunching bass and skin pounding and shouting from drummer Peter Prescott (shielded behind a perspex screen).
As someone who has only listened to the band’s recent albums a few times I did suffer with a lack of familiarity with the band’s songs for most of the set. In the most part the songs are lacking in obvious hooks and the slightly muddy live sound means it isn’t always easy to here the melody and lyrics which meant feeling slightly detached from the band onstage.
When I did let myself get lost in the wall of noise and the energy of the band and crowd this mattered less and I started to enjoy the gig a lot more. And when the band played songs I was more familiar with they sounded pretty great. This does mean that the band are not likely to appeal to the virgin audience but they are unlike to disappoint their loyal fans, and this was demonstrated clearly in The Haunt.
I did feel slightly cheated that the band didn’t play their most famous track, the brilliant ‘That’s When I Reach For My Revolver’, but given their growing post reformation catalogue it would seem churlish to expect them to play every one of their better known early songs.
Mission Of Burma make a great noise and their energy is pretty exciting to watch, but potential audiences might want to invest some time listening to their recent albums before going to see them live.
By Dorian Rogers
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