Children of Finland Fighting in Norway (C.O.F.F.I.N) are a hard biting four piece rock & roll/punk band hailing from the Northern beaches of Sydney, Australia, who were founded while still at school. After touring as support for fellow Australian band and good friends Amyl and the Sniffers around the UK last year they promised to come back in 2023 to do a few gigs, and the crowd were glad that they kept that promise! C.O.F.F.I.N have released two full albums – Piss Up in 2018 and Children of Finland Fighting in Norway in 2020. They are just about to release a new album and would play a few of the new songs tonight, so the crowd were in for a treat. There would have been 150 people inside Stereo when the band appeared at 9pm, and the place was still buzzing from the support act. From the first guitar riff of the first song Cum In The Street, the place came to life. The drummer Ben Portnoy is also the singer of the band, and was joined by two guitarists and a bass player in front of him.
Portnoy’s energy on the drums was outstanding and he whipped the crowd into a frenzy with stage diving a common feature among the fans. The barrier had been taken away specially to allow self expression from the fans, and it worked out perfectly without a steward in sight. Maybe self-policing crowds are going to become popular soon?
The set continued with two more songs from the second album C.O.F.F.I.N – Out on Bail and Plans for you – then Done by the Dogs from the Piss-up album. The hard hitting 2019 single Drug Baby was next up followed by a song from the upcoming album Lovers Leash which the crowd appreciated. The next song was a cover version of an ACDC classic Riff Raff, originally on their 1978 album Powerage, when Bon Scott was still the lead singer and it went down well with the knowledgeable audience. The recently released single Riff Raff was played with high energy and left everyone anticipating the release of the album. Another two songs still to be released were Beasts and Give me a bite. White Dog is a song written about the Aborigines and how the land still belongs to them. C.O.F.F.I.N try to include an environmental message in a few of their songs, and Dead Land was written around the time of the wild fires in Australia a couple of years ago when millions of trees and animals were wiped out: Dead Land, Dead Land, nothing here will grow until the last breath is had … Very powerful lyrics. The hour long set finished with the well known song Fast Love. The band promised to be back soon for the new album tour and is one not to be missed!
C.O.F.F.I.N Setlist
- Cum in the Street 2. Out on bail 3. Plans for you 4. Done by the dogs 5. Drug baby 6. Lovers leash 7. Riff raff 8. Cut you off 9. City Sun 10. Beasts 11. White dog 12. Give me a bite 13. Dead land 14. Fast love.
Review and Photographs by Alan Brown
