Great to see Nambucca has re-opened, under new management, but seemingly otherwise unchanged and perfect for tonight's Stranger Things four band bill, we arrived after Harry V had finished, but in time for the other opening act !El Bingo! A young band straight outta Watford, who I know nothing about apart from the 20 odd photos they have on Instagram.
They opened with a song that was full of Apologies from the severely over dressed singer, who looked like he wanted to be in Goldie Looking Chain and got a bit bouncy, while they sounded like a soulful Toploader. Once the singer had stripped off a couple of layers of clothing he announced Let's Buy Some Drugs that was played like it was the bands very credo, I was expecting things to go old school Holloway Road and see someone in the audience flogging pills and powders, instead the bands fans started dancing. Just 4 U kept the soulful indie vibes and I started trying to figure out what they needed to do to get somewhere, mainly tightening up the bands sound and getting some sort of image.
The singer told us they were about to get serious as he announced Chem Sex In The Country Club a dance rock anthem for getting up to no good at the local disco, that with a decent video and visuals could be the tune to launch them. Come On Baby was begging and pleading for a second go round or some more drugs, it just needed more focus and for them to have played a lot more gigs to sound more like a proper unit. They were getting their own fans bouncing along to I've Gone or whatever it was and made sure to thank everyone for helping them get out of Watford, even for one night. they closed with Say It Again that had heavier guitars, against the soulful britpop they are brewing up.
Next up were the new line-up of Electrics who now have Gary Pearce from Vulz and Crybaby's on guitar and who opened with Looks R Deecvin that had the bands trademark Stooges meets Heartbreakers punk sound. Victim Suspex was fully paranoid and nice and edgy with backing vocals from Jenny cutting through nicely. AL did his best to let us know the next song was No Shiz or should that be Shit, either way there weren't taking any and the interplay between Gary and AL's guitars was working well. Dead Boy was good and dark with a serious edge, no matter how much they hammed parts of it up.
Everything's Cool well it ought to be, were in a good bar on a Saturday night watching bands and having fun and they look like they are too. They remembered Holloway Road's dark past on Living Dead plenty of them used to wander around this part of town, the guitars were properly spiky with a great bouncy bassline. Nite Falls Dahn and things go on, producers murder landladies, people get up to no good and well everyone has fun too. Al claimed to Remember when he used to be a young Turk on the prowl, while Jenny's kinetic bass and backing vocals added some extra energy. Some things will always be Out Of Reach and that's ok as long as we still have fun with cool bands.
Natural Born Killer seemed to have a harder edge with Gary's guitar pushing it further into the pulp world, I almost expected a detective to appear. You Don't Know Me was looser than the rest of the set with them breaking down in the middle and finally coming back together before they closed with My City that helped make sure we were all smiling at the end.
After the break it was once again time for The Dirty Strangers who opened with Turn Of The Tide one of the songs that they are currently recording for the new album, due out in the next year or so, it was a little rough around the edges with Alan Clayton singing about all the time, but it sounded like it had the country twist he was promising. Hunter's Moon was played faster than it has in the past like Guy Griffin really wanted it to sound punkier than before.
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Like always Alan was worried about the State Of Affair and what he's been caught up to once more. Still he had his Liberty Smile on right and John Proctors bass drive them on into that Cold Night when everything really happened.
They were good and cheeky on Baby with Lawrence Fox's drums a great counterpoint to Guy Griffins seductive guitar. Learning To Be Legal was the second new song with a Rodney Crowell style country twist, AL tries to live on the straight and narrow for once, which is why moments later he's got his Hands Up and has to admit to what he's done while hanging out with those Bad Girls again, will he ever learn, I hope not.
Alan looked around the room and asked us R U Satisfied well most of us yelled back yes as long as they keep playing, Alan and Guy's guitar were dovetailing nicely. Pirates Don't Get Pensions kept the outlaw spirit front and centre, in time for Alan to ask us all to sing along to La La La I Couldn't Care Less of course we did and it was a good romp of a version. The next new song was Get Wild that sounded like it should be the theme song to some crazy reality tv show, along with this band's lifelong creed, they sounded a bit uncertain in places, but with a few more outings I'm sure it will tighten up nicely.
With the banner on the stage saying Holloway Gaels, My Girl Is A Getaway Driver was a prefect anthem for Nambucca, a few hundred yards from where the women's prison used to be, not that they would ever catch Jackie. Slow It Down seemed to have a little bit of Merle added to it, before a nice rough and ready version of Diamonds that hit at the heartstrings.
Alan tempted fate with South Of The River in a proper North London boozer like this, he was safe, we all sang along, happy knowing we were a long way from being South Of The River. Alan then thanked his co-writer Keef Richards like he always does while introducing She's A Real Botticelli that was played with plenty of swagger and a cheeky nod and a wink. They were a long way from Shepherds Bush City Limits but made clear that it's always going to be home to them, everyone sang along to this classic. They then closed the set with Gold Cortina that they wanted to drive at 80mph down the Holloway Road despite its current 20MPH speed limit this was rip roaring great end to the set.
They didn't fancy going downstairs to the dressing room so stayed onstage, while we encouraged them to play one more song, they reprised Get Wild that sounded a touch faster than the first version as they said good night and they hope to be back once the album is finished.
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