The Week that Was......

I had quite a busy time last week with gigs and all. I was out and about most nights and spent the entire week in London for a change. The week started on a bit of a low as I saw a couple of bands that I'd heard being talked up in industry circles that didn't live up to their supposed billing. Two of these bands played the Club Fandango night at the Dublin castle in Camden with the first band in question The Severes putting on a fairly pedestrian set. I'd actually seen this band before and had been quite excited by them but second time around they didn't make much of an impression on me as their sound was very Jam lite and a bit dated because the Libertines et al were doing this years ago. Following on were a Scottish band called Midnight Machine that had a contemporary electronic sound. Drawing influences from the Juan Maclean and The Knife they played out a half hour set of competent yet uninspiring songs. As it's very early days for this band it's a bit harsh to judge them at this point but I'd say there is room for improvement with this lot. 

 As the week moved on I checked out a band called the Priory at Notting Hill Arts Club. Like so many unsigned bands today they seemed content to knock out a few  indie/punk numbers without really challening the audience. They did have a good attitude about them though and the front man had a good presence on stage so I will be checking them out again to see if they have written the tunes to match the bravado. Towards the end of the week I saw a band called Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong at Boogaloo in Highgate and they impressed me. They are not the most original sounding band but they had a good collection of songs that kept the audience intrested for the duration of the set. I'm sure I will be hearing more from this band as the year moves on.