RETURN OF THE TEN LEGGED DANCING SPIDER: Tarantism hit the banks of the river Taff

The day began with a surreal start, with a giant teddy bear on the A470 at 5am and that was just the first psychedelic moment of the day. Come 10pm I had just about given up on the idea of going out and I was crashed on the settee. Then somehow the autopilot kicked in and by 11pm I was sat in Tarantism’s new van outside the Riverside in Cardiff doing an interview for the Iguana Zine.

Tarantism and the Iguana go way back, well before they played a gig for us over 9 years ago (the week that Tara Iguana was born clue there somewhere as to where Tara got her name). We used to bump into each other quite a lot but we haven't met up for ages, it came as no surprise though that within minutes of meeting tonight was like we had met last week…. and that includes the new members that we have not met before!

Anyway, let’s get on to the gig.

First up was that twat Cosmo doing his Bob Dylan on magic mushrooms thing, making a right cult of himself. Nahh.. what can we say that we have not said before? This man is wasted (in more ways than one), poet, rapper, axe god, revolutionary, porn star, drunkard and the only man we have ever seen that can make a lycra top look baggy… one day this man will be discovered and put in a museum for music lovers to appreciate for generations to come.

Then came Kilnaboy, Pontypridd’s finest rebel rousing anarcho diddly punk jigabout mob. After Cosmo had warmed everyone’s hearts, these lads and lasses warmed up everyone’s dancing trousers, like a damp patch when you’re too slow getting to the toilet. Mixing trad numbers with their own compositions they have the assembled scruffs up and swinging around the floor making the basement venue look even fuller than it really was.

Then it was the turn of Tarantism, setting foot on stage in South Wales for the first time in 9 years; half the crowd would have still been in school the last time they came this way but they were no strangers to this festival posse. They dipped their sonic ladle into the melting pot of styles that bubble away in their back catalogue, spooning out doses of ska, folk, dance and jazz when necessary, plus the odd spiky lump of punk rock to get you dancing up and down as well as swinging back and fore.

Come 2am they wanted to get some sleep before the drive to Cornwall in the morning, but the crowd would have none of it, insisting on a high-octane encore to finish the night. Let’s hope it aint 9 years before the next visit.

I couldn’t find a proper Tarantism video, but this is a video of the Eastendvalley festival that has Tarantism singing over the top…

For the wikipedia definition of Tarantism, click here

MYSPACE>>>>>>

COSMO

KILNABOY

TARANTISM BAND

TARANTISM SOUNDSYSTEM

TARANTISM LIVE (looky here if you want to download exclusive live stuff)