999: Live at the Vortex, 1977

Like lot of punk-era British bands that got slagged off at home, 999 toured Canada, inducing my hometown of Winnipeg. Hence why the band was comparatively well-known known among my peers in the early 80's and helps to explain how I found not one but THREE 999 LP's - High Energy Plan, The Biggest Prize in Sports and Concrete - in a friend's basement. I loved all three album but, predictably High Energy Plan, which cherry picks the band's first two albums, was the one that made me a fan for life.






This rough '77 bootleg captures the crackling energy of the band's initial outburst. Like many of their pub rock peers (Nick Cash had been in Kilburn and the Highroads with Ian Dury, Pablo LaBritain was an old friend of Joe Strummer who played, briefly, with The Clash early on) waffled between rock classicism and punk modernity (which the years have gone onto prove weren't as far apart as all they were made to seem at the time). As someone who felt that same division, I was  sucked into the band's high-energy mix of pop, punk, glam, reggae and whatnot.


01. Nasty Nasty
02. Pick It Up
03. Hit Me
04. Quite Disappointing
05. Tell Me Something Nice
06. My Street Stinks
07. Emergency
08. I'm Alive
09. No Pity
10. Chicane Destination
11. My Street Stinks
12. Nobody Knows
13. Nasty Nasty
14. I'm Alive 

    Bass, Vocals – Jon Watson
    Drums – Pablo Labritain
    Guitar, Vocals – Guy Days
    Vocals, Guitar – Nick Cash


A forty-something music store lifer said to me,  "Nobody cares about 999".
Prove him wrong in the COMMENTS section!!


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