NIGHTMARE BEFORE VALENTINES DAY 2 Live At The Gaff 13.02.10 (Gig Review)

SPIDERBABY
AL B DAMNED
CATFIGHT
WASTED SINNERS
ASP

The Gaff, Holloway Road 13.02.10

ASP
Final performance from the short-lived project who decided to burn out in front of a huge audience with masks, hats and burning guitars!!

WASTED SINNERS
Have to say these guys really blew me away tonight, they put on a great show, very entertaining and the songs are catchy and they got everybody dancing, add to that a huge show-stopping rock ballad and a mass stage invasion, they are potentially going to be huge this year.

CATFIGHT
Once again Samara's grunge/punk crew take the stage and proceed to destroy, perfectley executed songs flow and John, Simon and Seb play their hearts out leaving Samara to play and sing centre stage with total confidence.
A couple of new songs were thrown in as well, one with a country feel didnt sit too well with the overall set but its diversity shows that the band are prepared to take chances and push themselves creatively.
The final song was their classic 'Kill Me Again' now with Simon on the dual vocals the song has come of age, just perfect!!!!

AL B DAMNED
With the band onstage waiting to start the singer was nowhere to be seen, however coming through the crowd was a funeral procession carrying a coffin which was placed in front of the stage and singer Joey emerged to huge cheers and then the music just exploded.
In a short period of time the band have matured into possibley the most exciting band in the uk at the moment, its a full stage show backed by songs full of sing a long chorus's, the new songs also show a new level to Joey's vocal abilities with screams and harmony definately creating new textures and with amore agressive and heavier sound.
We were treated to their full set and still the audience demanded more, it was 100% pure entertainment!


STU

ASP

WASTED SINNERS

CATFIGHT

AL B DAMNED

SPIDERBABY

FEBRUARY FLYERS

MORE GIG FLYERS

DECEMBER GIG FLYERS

SPIDERBABY,LAURA LONDON'S MAGIC & BURLESQUE SHOW,AL.B.DAMNED Live At The Gaff 17.10.09 (Gig Review)

SPIDERBABY
LAURA LONDON
LITTLE BO FREAK
AMANDA MAE STEEL
LYDIA DARLING
AL.B.DAMNED
SLINKY SPARKLES

The Gaff, Holloway Road 17.10.09

Ladies and gentlemen roll up for the biggest night of rock n roll entertainment of
2009, to say that this show was amazing is an major understatement.

AL.B.DAMNED
After the show was opened by a traditional burlesque act from Slinky Sparkles, Laura
London took to the stage to introduce the Bournemouth gothic shock and roll band who
perform a superb set fuelled with humour and horror.We may be in Wednesday 13 territory but this has real edge and originality to it, the songs win over the audience almost straight away and vocalist Joey screams and sings his way through songs destined for future greatness, armed with a new drummer the band who used to be known as the Texas Drag Queen Massacre will make a big noise in 2010.

LAURA LONDON
After the rock n roll comes the burlesque & magic set introduced by Laura.
First to the stage is Lydia Darling who stubs a cigar out on her tongue and then
performs the most amazing flaming hula hoop routine, it was awesome!
Next is Amanda Mae Steel who performs a traditional strip but adds blood, all very dark
and gothic and a huge cheer at the end.
Little Bo Freak had already freaked out members of staff and the audience before she
gets to the stage due to the snake coiled around her body, her performance was
outstanding and quite breathtaking especially when she started fire breathing as well.

Then Laura takes the stage with a series of "How does she do it" tricks, e get it all
from turning flowers into a wand, a quick change of dresses in 2 seconds flat!
A guy comes on stage and gets a cake of fire and his legs sawn off (well not really they were still attached) and laura finds the easiest way to solve a rubiks cube by simply throwing it in the air!What was really good about watching her was the fact that this was on a rock stage with
everyone standing in front, no fancy tables and chairs, magic right in your face and
you still couldnt see how she did it!!!


STU

SLINKY SPARKLES

AL.B.DAMNED

LYDIA DARLING

AMANDA MAE STEEL

LITTLE BO FREAK

LAURA LONDON

SPIDERBABY

OCTOBER FLYERS

ROXVILLE, MERCY HOUSE, A THOUSAND LIES, FERAL, FIVE SECOND RULE, SPIDERBABY Live At The Gaff 25.07.09 (Gig Review)

ROXVILLE
THE MERCY HOUSE
A THOUSAND LIES
FERAL
FIVE SECOND RULE
SPIDERBABY

The Gaff, Holloway Road 25.07.09


SPIDERBABY
We kicked off the six pack gig with some great glam pop, considering that the mixing desk had been sabotaged the night before and that the soundman had no idea what to do, tony from the gaff and james from feral did their best to help and get things sorted but not in time to save the band from poor sound.

They played a great set and got through it with a smile, Nathan's guitar playing was on fire tonight, in fact the only weak thing during the whole set was "Erotic Nymphos In Love" a great song and have you seen the video???? but live i didnt think it worked.

FIVE SECOND RULE
They took to the stage plugged in, turned it to ten and exploded in a fury of rock n roll riffs.Lead vocalist Spider is like a cross between Maynard from Tool and Scott weiland, the bands dont give a fuck attitude sits perfectly with the audience who lapped it all up dancing and cheering throughout.

These guys just rock, think Velvet Revolver meets Rocket From The Crypt delivered by great musicians clearly intent on entertainment.

Their final song was a cover of "Word Up" when a girl was brought up on stage and treated to a lap dance from Laura London and her friend, that pretty much set the gaff on fire!

FERAL
Played a perfect set, in particular their rendition of "Twisted Sinister Smile" was outstanding, the song is destined to be a classic (Get in the studio NOW).
Really cant fault them, they perform to such a high standard and have such a great relationship with the audience they are destined to be a major force on the metal scene.
They ended their set with a chaotic version of Motorhead's 'Orgasmatron' with their biker friend Dermot taking on lead vocals.

A THOUSAND LIES
I kid you not this is the best Newcastle band i have heard since Venom.
They are full on metal, screaming vocals, pounding drums and amazing guitarwork.They won over the audience by the end of their first song and after their set they sold a few cd's as well.
My absolute favourite from their set was the last song, it was a really strong ballad that grew into a huge metal song.
These guys need to play london more, they would be huge if they did.

THE MERCY HOUSE
Outstanding classic hard rock, superb musicians and THE voice of rock Drew, a perfect combination.Sure tonights set was chaotic due to the soundman again, but they fought their way through to deliver a fantastic set, highlight of which was the song "Inversions" a superb song with a catchy little riff.
Drews voice powered through to the soul and the guitars sang like angels on absinthe!

ROXVILLE
First time i have seen them with new vocalist Voodoo (who tonight was also playing bass as As Ash is on holiday.They kicked off with the best version ever of 'Crash And Burn' and never looked back,Guitarist Rocco was right on with the rhythms and strong backing vocals,Charlie has really come forward as lead guitarist and his playing is quite something, rapidly emerging as one of the best guitarists in London, Nicky on the drums is solid and entertaining and finally we come to the new boy.

Voodoo has brooding looks and a voice to match, he has brought a maturity to their sound that the previous vocalist could not, his bass playing was good but he seemed a little uncomfortable with it,i look forward to seeing the full line up with him just let loose on the vocals, its going to be heart-stopping.

STU

SPIDERBABY

FIVE SECOND RULE

FERAL

A THOUSAND LIES

THE MERCY HOUSE

ROXVILLE

SPIDERBABY - WHERE THE STRANGE ONES GO (Cd Review)

01.Last Disco On Mars

02.Erotic Nymphos In Love

03.Scream My Name

04.Gone In 60 Seconds

05.Naked

06.Stardust

07.Witches Of Suburbia

08.Baby Gone Disco

09.Blaze In The Heart Of Hell

10.Scary But So Much Fun

11.Chilled

Shannon Lee (Vocals/Guitar/Bass)

Nathan James (Bass/Guitar/Keyboard)

Ashleigh Jade (Vocals)

Jonti (Drums)

Starting off with a sample about putting on a bikini, yep Spiderbaby are back!

'Erotic Nymphos In Love' is a sleazy disco/rock crossover that hits the right spot and has a great guitar solo thrown in just to let you know that they can add just the right element of rock when required.

'Scream My Name' is very "Depeche Mode" but with sexy female vocals, great synth sounds punctuate this potential dance floor clasic.

'Gone In 60 Seconds' starts with a sample from a news programme about some nameless (but obvious) britians got talent star,the song has this great old school new wave feel like its 1978! catchy chorus and great lyrics.

'Naked', "Do you like it when i do that" goes the sample that starts this six minute sleaze epic, how can i put this...music to fuck too!

'Stardust' is a goldfrapp/Marilyn Manson electronic rocker again some great vocals and well written lyrics.

Up next is 'Witches Of Suburbia' has a nice quiet intro that goes into a rockish chorus and then drops back to quiet, get 3 minutes in to another great solo and you have the albums slow burner track that will eventually get you.

'Baby Gone Disco' has a "Visage" like synth riff that drives yet another dance floor classic.
The black metal inspired 'Blaze In The Heart Of Hell' (Well okay i lied about the black metal, but what a cool title) this is a simple pop rocker that gets the head nodding in time to the bass drum and is driven nicely with a little guitar riff.

'Scary But So Much Fun' could sum up Spiderbaby anyway!Its a bouncy electronic swing rocker again that guitar work shines through, secretly i think that there is a full blown heavy rock band lurking underneath all that sexy sleaze pop.

The album ends with 'Chilled' a beautiful ballad sung fantastically by Ashleigh, it is the natural progression from the previous albums 'Baby Doll' though not as erotic lyrically, in fact this is quite a dark and bitter song about (i assume) being a married mans mistress.Once again this has a great guitar solo, a real eyes closed "shredder".

Overall this is a a superb album and i would recommend it to anyone, including all my Viking metal hoard friends, this is a fun album, well put together, well written and just plain fun.

STU

Rating 10/10

For Fans Of : Goldfrapp, Electric Six, Scissor Sisters, Blondie

BONUS VIDEO

And here is the promo video for 'Erotic Nymphos In Love'.

This is a video in two halfs, one is happy and colourful with Shannon dancing with a couple of sexy girls which is nice, the other half is much more fun with Ashleigh and Nathan in leather administering an unholy communion to two slaves of wine and cherries followed by a little spanking :)

JULY GIG FLYERS

MR STU'S PODCAST THING APRIL 2009 (Free Download)

01.Alexi Sayle

02.Man Of Kin - Primitive

03.Affluenza - Dead Days

04.Spitting Blood - Behind The Machine

05.Feral - Truth Is Lies (Radio Edit)

06.Chaosanct - Dark Directions

07.Achilla - Arashi

08.Muted - Closer To Death

09.From Great Height - Initial

10.Mercy House - Inversions

11.Roxville - Bad Luck

12.Spiderbaby - Dead Chavs

13.Catfight - The Picture

14.Mighty Boosh

15.Nemhain - Second Skin

Running Time - 59.09

Format - wma

Size - 41.2 mb

Bit Rate - 97 kbs

Have'nt done one of these since last November, but in the last few months there has been so much cool music coming out of good old London that i just had to do another.So if you have one of those fancy "Doodads" like iPod or an MP3 player then download this and enjoy.

STU

DOWNLOAD IT HERE : www.megaupload.com/?d=E2AMW0DH

SPIDERBABY - THE DEATH OF SPIDERBABY (CD Review)

01.The Great Audition

02.Dead Chavs

03.Climbing The Walls

04.The Restless

05.Baby Doll

06.Crucify

07.21st Century Vampire Fashion Show

08. La Danse Des Femmes De Serpent Du Mutant

Shannon Lee - Guitar,Vocals

Nathan James - Lead Guitar,Programming

Ashleigh Jade - Lead Vocals

Jontl - Drums

Every now and then you get lucky, you discover a band who are so amazing that words do not seem enough to describe their talents.

Well being a (crap) writer i have to try.

Anyone who knows me or my work knows im a metalhead, gimme Dimmu Borgir or Motorhead any day throw in some Nemhain, Chaosanct, King Lizard and Roxville and im a happy spoon :)
So along comes Spiderbaby an exotic/camp glamourous powerpop/rock band from Brighton, that town once home to the mighty McQueen, and frankly they blew me away.You can read the gig review below somewhere, for it is the cd that i be dealing with ere me hearties !

Kicking off with an orchestral piece that should be introducing a classic forties horror movie before crashing the speakers with 'Dead Chavs' (Song Title of the year i think) its a distorted guitar classic that could be be from an old Frankenstein Drag Queens album with a great guitar solo thrown in !

'Climbing The Walls' is a great techno rock song with some cool synth running through it Tubeway Army style with an old movie sample top and tailing it.

Next track is the weakest track for me,it a bit too New Order for my taste but that does not detract from the quality of the song, anyway what comes next makes up for it...

Welcome to the best damn track on the cd, its 'Baby Doll' a slow n sleazy masterpiece sung with chilling precision by Ashleigh, my all time fave sleaze/sexy song was Marianne Faithfull's 'Why Dya Do It' but this tops it,im not even sure why it just is !

Snapping me out of it with it's Buzzcock's punk influence is the next song 'Crucify' a pop punk take on 'Ever Fallen In Love' if ever i heard one :)

The penultimate track is a ballad from Rocky Horror Show (well its not actually from the show) but it could be it's that cool.

Finally we end with a nod to the Rolling Stones 'Sympathy For The Devil' mixed with a spaghetti western "Ay Ya yar" (oh come on you know that vocal thing from the good the bad and the ugly), essentially an instrumentle that needs to be played loud late at night driving home from a gig.

STU

Rating 10/10

Get This If You Like : Electric Six, Blondie, Placebo, Rocky Horror Show, Wednesday 13, Spit Like This