2 posts tagged “aj”

It's a bit rough around the edges but I now know what bits to polish for the filming tonight. :-) This is part one of two:

I'm setting up a page where you can get the hidef decent audio version. Part two is here.

Howdy,

Before I get to the gig I guess I should mention the whole big fire thing. Whilst the gig was getting into the full swing of things Camden Market and the Hawley Arms were burning down. You could probably smell the incense sticks and bamboo for miles. That's a horrible thing to say I know, just making light of it. Truth is it's a horrible state of affairs but no one was injured so the important thing. I'm sure insurance and such could handle the losses.

Gig-wise it was supaduper. I had two cameras running and the desk going into a DAT machine. So I'm hoping for a slightly more professional look this time.

Opened up the night with a new singer-songwriter called AJ who needed a gig. He hasn't got a page, myspace or anything. I think he has a phone number and that's about it. Don't think I should publish that. But I will get him to set up a page here.

Following that were 'Happy People Go Home' a last minute replacement who dished out some anthemic indie rock.

My personal highlight of the evening were The Knock. If I'm being honest, I found the recordings I heard a little lacklustre intitally but thought the songs were good and they sounded interesting. I wanted to see what they were like live. I was blown away to say the least.

It's rare that I see bands that have two singers that works. Rather than a frontman with backing. As musicians they were really tight. Toby's vocals were truely stunning and emotively performed. I heard elements of a heavyier version of Softcell, Blondie and Small Faces (bear with me). I definately hear some Steve Marriott in there somewhere. :-) Apparently Alan McGee has been championing these fellas for a while and have been getting bits and bobs of interest. I really like these fellas and think you'll be hearing a lot more from them soon. I'm going to be pushing them as best I can.

They're gigging all the time it seems so if you want to go to one of the best gigs you've seen in ages. Get yourself down. They even had me dancing down the front.

Sennah was loud. Let me say that again. Sennah was really really eyeball poppingly, teeth shatteringly LOUD!! But also great fun. Laura as a singer and performer is really engaging and certainly knows how to grab an audience by the knackers and back them against the wall with some intensely peformed metal. I think I managed to get good footage of her walking up and down the bar whilst belting out a tune. I forgot my lamp for the camera but hopefully I got some good shots.

Next on were the eagerly anticipated Clik Clik. I'd got a few people down to see these and I was glad I did. Really articulate and accessable DIY electro/hiphop stuff. I found them really charming as an act and they've got some very strong songs. They'll easily be getting decent radioplay in short order and I imagine getting a deal shouldn't be too difficult either. Whether it's with us/another major or they start taking the indie route is in the hands of fate I guess. Check out 'Done You Wrong' if you get chance.

Playing us through until the wee hours were Mano de Dios. An interesting Spanish/Flamenco influenced folk-rock out fit fronted by a fella called Jackson Scott. I didn't really know much about them as it was a recommendation from a friend. One of the girls in the crowd asked me "Is that Jackson Scott?" "Yes" I replied "You seen em before?" "Nope, I used to fancy him when he was dating Sadie Frost" Ahhh. You see, I have never kept up with whos dating who and I'm crap with any kind of celebrity, even the major ones. I'm crap at recognising anyone. Apparently I was chatting to Anna Friel for ages in my office. I didn't know who it was until it was explained to me three days later. I was ruthlessly taken the piss of for that.

All in all they were really good, but I was spangled by that point so camera work and cognitive thought proved difficult by 1am.

The place was crammed all night which considering I do very little promotion (apart from a mention on here) is pretty good. I want it to be a word of mouth thing really. :-)

After the gig me and Chalky went to have a look at the damage at the other end of Camden. Looked pretty bad and most of the other half of town was sealed off. I think it's going to be a long time before they get stuff sorted up there. The Hawley is probably going to be out of commission for a very long time.

I will get some previews of the video up asap. I'm quite excited to see how the footage turned out.

Hope all is well with you.

IBx

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YES MY KETTLEBELL HAS BEEN DELIVERED!!!