Halloween Special : Mensvreters at The Dev

The night started with heavy metal clowns, dancing goats singing sludge rock, death metal Roman legionnaires and a Cannibal rap group from South Africa known as Mensvreters. I've heard of them before and have wanted to see them perform for a while and couldn't think of a more fitting time of year or place other than this. They state they are anti corporate, anti cops and anti bling so if you are not a fan of horror, comedic and theatrical gore core rap and like the police I wouldn't bother reading this anymore if I were you. If this sounds like your thing keep going, think of Texas Chainsaw Massacre if it was a musical.

The bar was crowded, very crowded however I think the sludge goats shaking their bums had got the audience excited and were ready for what was to come. We waited eagerly for Mensvreters to set up their BBQ roasting human remains. I was able to get to the front and see it close up and was blown away by how clearly they made the BBQ themselves using a fan blowing yellow and orange coloured paper for fire that adhered to indoor health and safety regulations, flashing lights to create spark aesthetics and the burning body made using silicone. You could already tell a lot of love and thought had gone into the stage props and the performance wasn't any different.

The show begins with Zet along with an introduction to the audience warning them they might get sprayed with something. Zet is a creature who starred in an 80’s Afrikaans children’s T.V. show however he's not cute and furry anymore and would keep him away from your children as his disheveled appearance will probably scare them. The backstory is that the children's show was cancelled, Zet was fired and left homeless on the streets and was found by Brolloks and Boggel who took him in. "Zet was horrified with all the killing and cannibalism, but with no other food to eat, he didn’t have a choice but to succumb to the Mensvreter cuisine" i.e humans. He is currently Mensvreters DJ and loves cuddles! Then there's Boggel, another word for clown. His story is that well, he was in a travelling freak show circus who broke free to be with his brother Brollocks who loves to eat people and snort dandruff. If you stumble across the members in the smoking area without their costumes you would never ever guess it was them on stage all seeming very quiet, sweet, soft spoken and well on the outside quite normal, a great paradox to their extreme and wild stage personas. Together they delivered hardcore rap tunes such as Fok die Polisie and I thought they were matched perfectly with the metal bands on the bill, despite mainly being a rap band their music is very abrasive and hard which matches the metal subgenre with added comedy elements to it as well. The audience did get sprayed with unknown substances and a policeman got decapitated after disrupting the crowd. They finished with Get Sexy as an encore, a crowd favourite and there were discussions after their show in the smoking area about the sprayed substances and general excitement from their energetic and barbaric performance, leaving a few people quite stunned and many wanting more. The bands crowd engagement made it very easy to want to join in on the theatrics and they were definitely met with the perfect audience.

The Devonshire arms or 'The Dev' is a metal pub about a 5 minute walk from Camden Town Station. It's an old tudor building on a street corner which hosts free shows regularly, mostly of the metal genre but is mainly a pub open in the late afternoons. It's usually the first bar I would recommend to punk/metal tourists roaming the area as it's not too complicated and don't only serve craft beers but you can order something simple such as a pint of Guinness if you want it with a nice atmosphere and great if you want to experience and rock and roll style pub. During shows bands are usually selling merch on a table by the stage area but can be challenging getting there when there's a show and is completely packed, best try and find them in the smoking area!

I was pleased with my choice of show and venue to celebrate Halloween and needless to say it was unforgettable. I will definitely attend 'Night of the Dev iii' if they have another one next year. As for Mensvreters, I will keep my eye out for them at the next Zombie Parade, causing havoc on the streets of London!