Rumiko Jr & Regular John. 26th June.

Hastings favourites Rumiko Jr have a long association with the seafront’s Smugglers pub. The group played some of their earliest regular gigs there, back when they were a quiet country-rock band called Donkey Kong Jr, often appearing with the sensitive likes of Tim Hoyte, Jonathan Martin and (early) Mumm-Ra. In more recent years, Rumiko became something of the house band at Smugglers, hosting a regular monthly showcase for like-minded acts such as The Occasionals and The Laylanas, and supporting other artists at the venue with musical equipment and sound-desk duties, courtesy of their next-door-but-one instrument shop/recording studio.

However, proving the adage that all good things must come to an end, the news finally broke in June that Smugglers’ popular but long-suffering landlord Ewen, possibly fed-up with his rumoured blood-from-a-stone dealings with the brewery, was finally throwing in the bar-towel. With no sign of a take-over in the offing, and no guarantee that a subsequent landlord would be quite so generous to gigging musicians as Ewen, Rumiko Jr’s June showcase was accordingly billed as their last hurrah.

Although spoilt for choice for supports, Rumiko fittingly let alliterative co-conspirators Regular John onto the bill for their personal farewell (even if both bands would play Smugglers again over the following weeks as various loyal musicians from the town threw their own send-off parties at the venue).

Regular John have twinned their grungy noise-rock onstage with Rumiko many times in the past, leading to a point where both bands began feeding off each other’s influences – Rumiko playing louder and heavier in order to match the John’s impact, Regular John’s Matt and Bonj sometimes sitting in with Rumiko frontperson Deano for collaborative acoustic gigs at venues like The Street and Revolver.

Tonight, though, was a classic full-on rock show from the John, drawing on material from their string of self-released EPs and albums and a fair smattering of new numbers. Twin singer-guitarists Matt & Bonj swapped lead roles throughout the set, as the band veered between shorter bluesy songs and full-on Sonic Youth screamouts. Matt raised several toasts to the Smugglers, the group knocked-off some crowd-pleasers (Witch Doctor, Hyeshin, Mexico – the latter once slated for a split-single release with Rumiko) and some more newbies, then with a final howl of feedback they were done.

If Rumiko Jr were feeling nostalgic, it wasn’t initially apparent. Rumiko have always been powered by Deano’s prodigious song-writing: a day without a new riff or set of lyrics is a day wasted, in Dean’s book (admittedly, Dean has often spent a day wasted too). Accordingly, Rumiko dispensed with a handful of songs from this year’s Haunting The Townsfolk album in the first part of the set, then hit a long stretch of largely unheard and unrecorded tracks. The lateness of the hour – typically, the gig was over-running – and the spiritedness of the packed pub (many musicians and friends had made it down) meant that even the unfamiliar material was well-received, but, with the midnight hour approaching, it was the band’s encore of The Monkey Song (The Mountain Goats’ obscurity, brought to Dean’s attention via 90s power-poppers Number One Cup) and their own Rome (the other side of the Rumiko Jr/Regular John split 7” that never was – each band intending to cover their friend’s city-inspired song) that really brought the night to a climax. Typically, Rumiko then bashed-out one more brand new track (exhibiting again the two-way influence of Regular John’s alt-rock mutations on the band’s sound) before getting on with some really serious drinking.

Smugglers. Love it. We’ll never see it’s like again.