Unite Against Fascism - Fraction of the Cost - The Ringside 19/09/2004 By Andy Dykes

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Tonight I expect The Ringside to be dimly lit and packed to the rafters with members of the Zapatistas, Rage Against the Machine and the Cuban government, all talking earnestly and with hushed voices. Possibly the A-Team too. I expect an air of urgency, a feeling that we're all taking part in some form of subversion and a sense that the secret police could burst in at any moment. Instead I'm blinded by the glitter and the kitsch.

At the bar, The Village People sip bitter while watching unjustifiably confident middle aged women belt out some atrocious karaoke hits. "What've you brought me to?" asks my friend Oswald Pseudonym, who's come with me to support the cause.

Before I can answer, a cowboy in a pink waistcoat and a white hat moseys on over. "You here for the bands?" he asks. We nod eagerly, and mumble something along the lines of 'yes'. "Upstairs" he says, then moseys off. We make hurriedly in the direction of the stairs and are chased up them by a painful rendition of 'Total Eclipse of the Heart'.

Now in the right section of the venue, the scene is a little more like I imagined. At least, there are fewer cowboys and Indians than downstairs. But at the same time, it hardly looks like an assemblage that'd chill the blood of any fascist or ardent supporter of the BNP. But still, that's the point. The kind of people who want to fight fascism aren't the kind of people into chilling blood.

Tonight's acts consist of a lovely lady called Jenny playing an acoustic set, the anarcho folk duo that is Cracktown, youthful punks Displacements and the politically minded hardcore of Fraction of the Cost. Assigned to review tonight's action is Daniel, who also happens to be the drummer for a certain politically minded hardcore band. One brief conversation later, and I am the reviewer of Fraction of the Cost. I really enjoy all of tonight's entertainment. I especially enjoy a small speech made during The Displacement's set in which one of the singers claims that he doesn't like Italians. Whether he's being ironic, or whether the underlying gravity of the evening's cause is just wasted on him I don't know, but I can't help but raise a smile.

Just before he's due to go on stage I meet the singer for Fraction of the Cost. But I don't know it's him. He's small and smiley and wearing a Propaghandi (politically minded U.S punk/hardcore band) t-shirt. He's easy to talk to and just seems like a very pleasant guy. When I see him strap on his guitar and head for the mic, I'm surprised. Hardcore frontmen are, in my experience, big, hard, imposing looking thugs to a good cause, who enjoy nothing more than to scream their guts out for the sake of their art and their politics. I can't imagine it coming from this guy.

But surprise is the joyful fruit of misguided preconception and Fraction of the Cost have an outstanding frontman. In fact, the whole band are pretty outstanding. Their opening track jumps straight in at the deep end, throwing insane pace and tempo changes into the proverbial mixer straight away. It's a fine display of hardcore sensibilities, akin perhaps to more established bands like Assert or perhaps Knuckledust.

What's immediately striking about Fraction of the Cost is the way that all three members appear totally confident in what they're doing, without a hint of self doubt or self consciousness about them. It's the kind of confidence that can only stem from an absolute belief in what they're doing. The drummer drums for his life, throwing his arms and his head about the kit.

The bassist maintains a cool composure about him playing some jazzy riffs among the chaos and roaring down the mic when backing vocals require him to. But the singer proves to be a captivating centrepiece to this band. As he sings/shouts, he stares intently at his audience, the veins in his neck and forehead bulging forth. All this while thrashing out some truly complicated guitar lines. The track 'No Truth in War' contains the most complicated riff of the whole evening.

All of Fraction of the Cost's songs are interspersed with speeches regarding political thought, but it's just prior to the aforementioned track that the most philosophically sound sentiment of the night is uttered. The singer from Fraction of the Cost urges the audience not to take anyone's word as the truth. Just as we shouldn't believe everything we hear that we might not necessarily agree with, nor should we merely accept those things that are said in conjunction with the causes we support. His suggestion is that we all work towards finding the truth about those things about which we are concerned.

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