FIVE SECOND RULE - UNDRESSED REHEARSAL EP (Cd Review)

01.Clusterfuck

02.How Far I Fall

03.Shadows

04.You're Gonna Hate Tomorrow

Spider Mcrawl(Vocals)

Frank Roar (Bass)

Damo (Guitar)

AC (Drums)

If you are looking for good unpretentious rock and roll then allow me to introduce to you the London quartet Five Second Rule.

They have recorded a live rehersal ep just for their headlining show at the gaff and serves as a taster for the studio recordings due out soon.

Comprising of four outstanding tracks it starts with the wonderfully titled 'Clusterfuck',this is a quite dark and moody song that has some great lyrics and a neat guitar solo.

'How Far I Fall' is a classic rocker with its anthemic sing-a-long chorus, great backing vocals and vocal delivery to make Scott Weiland weep.

A real neat bass intro leads into 'Shadows' my fave track of the ep, it just one of those songs you have to move to and you soon find yourself singing along too.

"okay you lucky bastards" is how spider introduces the last song before hitting into a early Guns 'N' Roses style rocker and another great solo is sneaked in as well.

Rating : 9/10

For fans of : Alice In Chains, Velvet Revolver, King Lizard, New York Dolls, Roxville

STU

FIVE SECOND RULE, VOODOO PINS, SARAJEVO Live At The Gaff 19.11.09

FIVE SECOND RULE
VOODOO PINS
SARAJEVO

The Gaff, Holloway Road 19.11.09
SARAJEVO
Talk about impressive, this band are a positive revelation!
Superb musicianship is played like a masterclass in how to portray modern and original heavy metal.
Simply stunning songs are sung by lad who has the voice of Eddie Vedder and Mark Lanegan rolled into one, there is blues in that boys soul and it shows.
In particular they perform a very long song that covers five decades of rock music styles from blues to a kinks riff through zepp territory to metal and thrash, it is an awesome song!
The band perform songs that seem to include the widest possible variety of influences, a band to watch closely next year they could be big!

VOODOO PINS
A 60's inspired garage/rockabilly band who capture that sound really well.Got to pick out 2 songs though first is one of those great tunes that starts out slow and just builds and builds called 'Slug In A Mug' and the other is a classic rocker called 'Voodoo Doll'.

FIVE SECOND RULE
Their debut headline show and wow what a show!
FSR play by their own rules and they have but one and it says entertain, vocalist Spider takes to the stage and says "its a rock n roll show so get yer fucking hands up in the air" then they kick straight in with 'Sunday Roast' and from that point it is just good times, like the stones back in the day with a twist of velvet revolver.

However music just isnt enough with this lot, oh no, so onto the stage comes one of their friends whose birthday it is, she is sat down and then the band play a great cover of 'Word Up' and performer Rachel gives her a lap dance complete with snake!!

They also played a new song tonight a moving rock ballad dedicated to the people of Wooten Basset and inspired by what is going on with the war in afganistan and the public reaction to it all.
The song was sung with such passion and it was such a surprise in the middle of the mayhem to have something like this and to pull it off to a massive cheer at the end.

The party returns with the remainder of the set and the whole thing is topped off in the only way it could be.... Rachel returns with her snake, fire breathing from Nemhains Morrigan Hell and a magic trick from Laura London who quite brilliantly produced a handfull of exclusive cd's from a flaming dish!!!!

The bottom line here is a band who want to have fun, play good rock n roll, stop and make you think for a minute then return to have a party.This is a strong contender for best live show of 2009, it really was that good.

STU

SARAJEVO

VOODOO PINS

FIVE SECOND RULE

BANGTOY,AFFLUENZA,SOLSIKK,ASP Live At The Gaff 14.11.09 (Gig Review)

BANGTOY
AFFLUENZA
SOLSIKK
ASP

The Gaff, Holloway Road 14.11.09

ASP
So cant really review my own band can i????
It was fun, i forgot the lyrics to the new song but remembered most of the others which considering i havent sung them for nearly 20 years aint bad!!!!My band just did 4 songs and total respect to Dave from thrash legends Virus for playing drums and to Mark and Pawel for bass and guitar from the Lightning Riders.

SOLSIKK
Time for a real band to take the stage, did i say take? I mean storm!!!!I tell you Solsikk are the best damn female fronted metal band in London if not the whole of England, im not joking here they are amazing, such great musicianship and superb vocals with a great range, there is nothing to fault.

High speed drumming from Matt is matched by Mark's pounding bass and as for chris' guitar work, it is stunning especially the solo on 'Cuts A Little Deeper' possibley the best solo of 2009!
Vykki's vocals range from mellow to agressive and just blows Angela Gossow off the planet!That this band are not a household name is a shame, but in 2010 i have a feeling that will change!

AFFLUENZA
Yet again the band deny me the oppertunity of writing a bad review!
In fact i have to say the band are geting better, there is a definite Black Sabbath influence flowing through their music and add to that a modern almost static x/fear factory style drumming and great basswork it is now quite a sound!
Vocalist Al screams with a vengeance every single word and the new song tonight was really good.

BANGTOY
Their first headline show and it has to be said their best performance so far as well.Such was their confidence they started the set with a brand new song called 'Do It On The Floor', then launchd into the old classics, vocalist Frank was on form tonight as were the rest of the band.
Outstanding song of the night was another new one called 'Feel The Fire' it has all the elements of "hit".

STU

ASP

SOLSIKK

AFFLUENZA

BANGTOY

DIVA SUICIDE - THIS NIGHT EP (Cd Review)

01.This Night

02.Last Wish

03.Blessed By The Sun

04.She Cries Lullabies

XS (Vocals)

Bazza(Guitar)

Lucien (Bass)

Belle (Drums)

Formed in 2007 with a blend of industrial and darkwave influences.Two years later the band have undergone a number of changes and now with a new line up are about to re launch themselves with a more gothic sound.

'This Night' is a really catchy song full of melody, it has a HIM feel to it.

You know the weird thing about the way 'Last Wish' starts is that it reminds me of a
Madonna song, well madge if she were gothed up, but it has all the qualities of a good
electronic dance song, some amazing synth sounds in there sound really good on the
headphones when cranked up to 10!!!!

After listening to 'Blessed By The Sun' i think i know what the Deathstars would sound
like with female vocals, and it is good.

The final song 'She Cries Lullabies' is my personal favourite, superb production lifts
this into a quite stunning industrial/pop/goth hybrid, this should be the lead track
its going to slay the dancefloor but also one for the metal clubs as well.

Overall a very impressive EP, its good to hear this style of music so well put together
and not just throw together with samplers but real instruments as well.A strong vocal performance from XS helps lift this beyond the average and im sure the
band can go far in 2010 with this.

Were i to pick any fault it would be that i just get into the songs and they seem to finish, because of the nature of the music it requires 5 minutes minimum coz you just gotta dance and at under 4 minutes per song you barely break a sweat!!!!

Rating 9/10

For Fans Of : Queen Adreena, Die So Fluid, Him, Deathstars, 69 Eyes

STU

GMT, ACHILLA, BANGTOY Live At The Gaff 06.11.09 (Gig Review)

GMT
ACHILLA
BANGTOY

The Gaff, Holloway Road 06.11.09

BANGTOY
Classic rock with a glam influence, huge riffs, big choruses, and shit loads of singing along!!!!!!They played a big set as well and threw in a new song, which along with the other new song 'Feel The Fire' shows that they are heading in the right direction.

ACHILLA
Finally a world class performance, ive been waiting for this, a solid line up at last with a good bassist and an outstanding keyboard player and a perfect set, it was awesome!

GMT
3 legends one stage, RESULT!!!
For one and a half hours the Gaff was well and truly rocked with great original songs and a few covers including a superb rendition of Ozzy's 'Mr.Crowley'.We got a great drum solo from, well lets face it, one the greatest british drummers of all time Robin Guy, a bass solo from Mr McCoy that ended with him smashing it into the stage, also a light up bass and a mammoth shaped one that smoked out the venue, and finally Bernie Torme whose playing is still faultless after 33 years!

STU

BANGTOY

ACHILLA

GMT

ROXVILLE, FERAL, FROM GREAT HEIGHT Live At The Gaff 05.11.09 (Gig Review)

ROXVILLE
FERAL
RUBELLA
FROM GREAT HEIGHT
VELVET SNOW

The Gaff, Holloway Road 05.11.09

VELVET SNOW
Yep a good solid 3 piece in the Dire Straits style, so make of that what you will.

FROM GREAT HEIGHT
Tonight the Enfield rock group unveiled their new drummer Tim, and what a difference he has made!
Lets be honest FGH are one of the best rock groups to come out of the uk in over 20 years and tonights performance was nothing short of stunning the band seemed to have come alive with the normally restrained vocalist Adam pacing the stage and even jumping on the speakers, this was a stadium performance on a small stage.

RUBELLA
All girl band played some songs.

FERAL
Another outstanding set from the melodic thrashers, it seems the whole year they have been putting in great performances, building up a fan base and pushing themselves forward musically.
They ended tonights set with a chaotic cover of 'Orgasmatron' with a guest vocalist and it brought the house down!

ROXVILLE
Seriously on form this evening, and it turns out to be vocalist Voodoo's final show.Its a shame because tonight they were on fire, every song had a perfect delivery and the band were note perfect!

STU

VELVET SNOW

FROM GREAT HEIGHT

RUBELLA

FERAL

ROXVILLE

NOVEMBER GIG FLYERS

MALLORY KNOX, FERAL, SHAKE, FUCKSHOVEL Live At The Dev 31.10.09 (Gig Review)

MALLORY KNOX
FERAL
SHAKE
FUCKSHOVEL


The Dev, Camden 31.10.09

Halloween night, 4 bands, loads of people, great atmosphere, good dj and a PA System made out of a 1930's valve radio????

Every band were victim to the mic's cutting out, but they all put up with it and did an excellent job.

Also a few simple changes to the stage area would allow the bands room to move and be a bit more comfortable.



FUCKSHOVEL

Best way to describe this band is; if the Sex Pistols were a heavy metal band and Motorhead were a punk band then they would sound like this.

It was a great set, powered by a very fast and agressive drummer and a vocalist who had classic Johnny Rotten poses and a voice to match.

One of the best punk/metal bands i have heard since the good old days of Warfare.



SHAKE

Finally get to see this mob, and tonight was a real treat the band seemed to explode the second guitarist lee hit the first chord and jumped up onto the dj area and the vocalist launched himself into the audience, leaving the rest of the band to jump around the stage.

Shake have great glam influenced goth/rock/punk sound it fired the crowd up instantly, they also threw in a cover of FYC's 'She Drives Me Crazy' which was awesome and they got called back for an encore.



FERAL
London melodic thrashers have seemingly gone from strength to strength this year, the new songs show great progress in terms of structure and musicianship.
They may have been a little out of place on tonights bill, but they kept the audience in front of them and entertained with a solid performance that included a version of 'Truth Is Lies' with added lady gaga lyrics and getting a sing a long with the last song 'Roadhouse Blues'.

MALLORY KNOX
"are you lot fucking ready?", yep its another Mallory Knox gig!!!
Its sweaty, messy, loud, fast, has swearing, great songs, Kit on vocals and guitar, Ben on guitar and backing vocals, Akis pounding the bass and Kelvis smashing seven shades out of the drums.

When they are on stage, everybody drinks, jumps around and sings along to 'Drink, Fight, Fuck' with fists in the air, tonights set included a great cover of 'Helter Skelter' as well.


FUCKSHOVEL

SHAKE

FERAL

MALLORY KNOX