Black Heart – Down At The Front

Saint Agnes

Paul Hudson — Wed, 03 May 2023 23:01:37 +0000

It is several years since I last saw Saint Agnes. Always a band to put in an energetic performance. Tonight’s gig, a cosy preview of songs off their soon to be released album, Bloodsuckers, seemed like a good chance to see what has changed with them.

The most obvious change, was a tweak to the band’s dynamic. The band was formed by Kitty A Austen and Jon James Tufnell. Kitty has always had a striking stage presence but early gigs felt like the Kitty and Jon band. Tonight it seemed clear they have taken a decision that she was the front person. This backs up a lot of the pre-album imagery with Kitty front and centre. While I can understand why, I did like when they shared vocals. With Kitty front and centre, she spent less time on guitar and more time performing, something she excels at. So the change does work.

The new material seems to have shifted away from the heavy blues rock of ‘Welcome to Silvertown’ to a more amped up, metallic sound which suited their live performances. For me, I preferred their earlier sound. But in the end it doesn’t overly mater. Saint Agnes has always been about their live performances and this one was just as exhilarating.

Camden Rocks

Paul Hudson — Wed, 03 Sep 2014 23:25:45 +0000

A new one day festival spread across a dozen or so venues across Camden. I much prefer Camden to Shoreditch, so I thought I’d give it a go. The line-up wasn’t the strongest. But I still managed to find some interesting music during the day. Highlights were Dogbones and The Graveltones. Along with some decent entertainment from Strangefruit and Love Zombies. The only real disappointment was the Struts. I’d been told to see them by a friend but found them to be so cheesy (think the Darkness) I only managed to stick out two songs.

In all honesty, it wasn’t the strongest festival. But it wasn’t expensive and it was the first year. Hopefully, if they can widen the parameter of ‘Rocks’ to include a wider range of indie bands, then I think this has potential to be a decent low-key festival

Strangefruit

Love Zombies

Blitz Kids

Struts

Max Raptor

Dogbones

Dinosaur Pile-Up

The Graveltones

The Minutes and Kill Moon

Paul Hudson — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 22:16:59 +0000

Massmatiks at the Black Heart

Kill Moon

The Minutes

The Bohicas

Paul Hudson — Fri, 04 Apr 2014 21:15:23 +0000

The Bohicas are a mystery to me. I caught them last year playing a support slot at the Macbeth. They’ve got a very ‘immediate’ sound full of infectious guitar licks while having a ‘good look’ for band to break through to the mainstream. They’d just signed with Domino and since then have had support slots with Franz Ferdinand. So clearly they have a good chance.

But the odd thing was that when I got back a googled them, nothing. I finally found a holding site, but little else. No reviews, no records of them supporting anyone in either Songkick or Last.fm, no Bandcamp site with early demos, and their Facebook page was recent. I’ve never had that occur before. Something just doesn’t add up. It’s almost like they’ve been manufactured.

But that aside. Does that matter? Probably like everyone who stomps around the small venues in Camden and Shoreditch hoping to see that band that becomes big and become one of those bands that form a serious part of your life, a little. The idea that a fully formed band immediately has a record contract with a big ‘indie’ label without putting in the groundwork, seems wrong. You earn your stripes.

However, from the first lick of . All that’s forgotten. However they came to be. They’ve got at least three or four top-quality songs. Combined with great live performances. I guess it doesn’t matter their origin when they’re as good as this.

The support band were The Beasts.

Wytches

Paul Hudson — Sat, 23 Nov 2013 13:38:48 +0000

Love the sound of this band and they’re great live. The longest performance of theirs I’ve seen and the best. They really benefited from the longer set.

Cold Crows Dead

Blonde Bunny