About this Event

The Underworld presents...



MAD SIN



plus support.



Price: £13.50 adv

Doors: 7pm



........................................................

About:



2009 was not a good year for Mad Sin, it started badly with some close friends passing away before their time which had a deep effect on the band. Of course the show had to go on and the band embarked on a string of US shows which seemed the perfect remedy, but near disaster was to follow. Whilst well into those dates head sinner Koefte suffered from severe blood-poisoning that left him hospitalised and literally on death's door. Luckily in this case you can't keep a good man down, he managed to pull through and even salvage the end of the tour but incident left him and the band shell-shocked. On their return to Germany during the summer there was more torment awaiting Mad Sin. Andy and Hellvis had personal problems then Koefte was dumped by his long-term girlfriend, a deep blow, but a battered emotional heart was the least of his problems. On examination after his US scare he was given a stark wake-up call, one of the most famed extreme lifestyles in Psychobilly was catching up with him. The doctor's ultimatum was stark and to the point, 'Change your ways or be dead within a year'. Faced with the reality of meeting the Grim Reaper rather than just singing his favourite music Koefte was rock bottom, but rather than wallow in self pity decided enough was enough. He threw himself as enthusiastically into a new healthy regime as he had done the excesses of Rock N Roll, no surprise then that in just four months he lost around a third of his body weight due to exercise and healthy living! Koefte's resurgence coincided with things getting better for Hellvis and Andy, Mad Sin found themselves a solid unit once more and got to work in the studio, the result is new album 'BURN AND RISE'. The band feel it is a fitting title, they have come back from the brink of a tragic end to their story and have risen Phoenix-like from what very nearly were the ashes of their own demise.



Mad Sin have captured all the crazed but controlled abandon of their gigs in this studio album. BURN AND RISE is huge in sound and content and runs the whole gamut of Mad Sin's wide envelopment of their genre. They have long-since reached beyond the baying Psychobilly masses that love them dearly, but they have never abandoned them or the genre, but they have enriched and elaborated on Psychobilly while absorbing a multitude of influences from the past while forging ahead with the present. There is nothing retro about BURN AND RISE it is 100% now and it is unforgiving, you have no chance to reflect on a song before you are being battered by the next. The sound is as deep as it is raging and tumultuous with each player knowing when to come to the fore and hit you with their particular forte, double bass is there in abundance but not so prominent that you are not shocked when it is the only sound left in the layer, just long enough to stun you in time for the guitar to slice through your ears as a follow-up. While most of the songs are performed at Mad Sin's trademark mach 1 speed there are one or two surprise drops in tempo but don't get too complacent. Koefte's unmistakable voice bounces about on the music in way which belies its depth while the band are not slow in coming forward with screams and shouts of encouragement boomeranging in and out the of the mix. This is a confident album that draws on the decades of experience Mad Sin have at crafting huge tunes that Rock And Roll like not many other bands could even attempt in their best dreams or even worst nightmares. The title track fittingly draws the album to a close, you leave shattered but happy to have had the privilege to join in Mad Sin's party. Beware though, before out of earshot you are reminded in no uncertain terms that you were able to leave with a smile on your face this time, only because they let you. They may not be dicing with death like they used to, but it doesn't mean YOU are safe!



Simon Nott (Big Cheese Magazine