Not Your Typical Victorians - Charlie

Gorgeous Dress

I wasn't expecting to be writing this but after such a great night at Think Tank , meeting people like Daniel and Pete and my friends Gillian and Moira, and seeing the amazing costumes that people were wearing , really how could I not?

The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing were promoting their new album Not Your Typical Victorians with their hybrid rockney metal edge. Their comic timing is impeccable , they look great , have a musical saw ,and had the crowd up starting with the title track of the new album through some excellent material such as Charlie , a but of Hey Jude , lots of crowd joining in songs before finishing their encore with Isembard Kingdom Brunel.








They are Steampunk and here is a definition from Impossible Gears:

Steampunk is a design aesthetic rooted in Victorian Science Fiction. Steampunk items are characterised by a high level of craftsmanship and imaginative use of traditional materials combined with unusual additions such as clockwork mechanisms

Daniel and Pete

Daniel and Bo Peep

They really are a must see band and the crowd they attract look great and are incredibly welcoming and friendly.

Another brilliant night , these are a band on my automatic must see list.

If you haven't seen them , do something about it now, at least buy their new album.

And I met Pete, and Daniel of Impossible Gears which has some amazing looking stuff on there. These are the sort of people you meet there

Go on get out !!

Jesus Was A Cockney?

After a mental week , which continues tomorrow, I had a ticket to see The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing. I was expecting a punk band with goggles and hats, but that's not what me and the audience got.I was late getting in, but as I got to the top of the stairs the second act had just hit the stage.....

Jordan Reyne:

.. was alone on stage dressed in black, with a pair of horns , and then some eerie backing vocals and a gorgeous voice. She was doing this all with recording loops , effectively recording her own backing live. Although this is an age old process , the first time I say this was John Martyn playing Big Muff on Rock Goes To College in the seventies. You can see it here.

Jordon though just sounded amazing , with great stories and some industrial noise thrown in such as on "Factory Song". Her set was amazing, dark , but with a light Australian audience rapport. I really cant remember such a different sound, the songs are spellbinding and originally minimalist. While it's clever to play complicated stuff , it's even better to make minimalism sound interesting, and the elements of her music may be simple they are woven in to complex wonderful tapestries. Then next ...

The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing 

I don't know what I was expecting , but this band are multi dimensional , thoroughly entertaining and consonantly surprising. Visually what you'd expect from a Steampunk band , the bassist reminded me of David Morrisey, but bassist , guitarist and singer were all great at singing and entertaining the crowd. At one point I was thinking Chas'n'Dave meet Anthrax as an analogy, but you have to throw in Music Hall , The Bonzos, Half Man Half Biscuit as pointers , with impeccable comic timing and excellent musicianship. Lot's of audience participation songs such as Charlie and Isembard Kingdom Brunel.There songs are fun but also educational. They even managed to include some of Judas Priest's "Breakin The Law"

Breakin The Law

And the audience loved it , dancing , singing , joining in. Also many of the crowd were dressed in steampunk regalia and the crowd and the band turned a gig into a memorable event.

A fantastic night was had by all , I ended up buying 5 CDs, and will definitely be sing all of these again , you should too.

Bad Pollyanna, Inertia and Ayria Play Think Tank Newcastle

Tonight was my first time at Think Tank in Newcastle, and my first impression was that it was a bit small. There's nothing wrong with that, and it helped that it wasn't rammed tonight, although anyone who didn't go missed an absolute treat. It also has a decent outdoor balcony area

The music mixed goth , psychobilly and electronica and the fashion was generally steampunk though I played safe in John Martin black Armageddon T-Shirl and everything else black. The crowd had certainly put a lot of effort into  looking good for the the night.

Doors opened at seven , there were three bands and the gig closed at ten thirty, so you could choose where to carry on if you were up to partying. The sound throughout the night was excellent, the bass was door rattling but didnt affect my hearing , though I ended up with a bit of a headache ... I wonder why....

Anyway first up were Bad Pollyanna, the most Goth of all the bands, and the one that I had come to see. I thought they were American but the hail from Huddersfield and and if you get the chance go and see them. One of their songs "Define Me" was written in response to the senseless death of Sophie Lancaster murdered for "looking different". The Sophie Lancaster Foundation was set up to educate people in the hope that this will never be repeated.

Bad Pollyanna at Think Tank

The music is excellent and carries all the trademarks of excellent Goth rock, and is well demonstrated in the video to hollow , which was one of the many excellent songs they aired tonight. As the opening act they played around forty minutes but the music and stage presence was so good that it came and went far too quickly. "Monstrous Child" and "Define Me" were delivered brilliantly. A superb set worth the price of admission for them alone.

Inertia featuring Oscar

Next up were Inertia who have a decent back catalogue, were closer to Republica in sound with a dash of psychobilly and a huge dollop of panache. Two lead singers who doubled on drums which is no mean feat to pull off. The only song I knew was a cover of T Rex's "Children Of The Revolution" , but again the set flew by, great sound and crowd well stimulated.

Ayria in Full Flow

The headliners were Ayria , no drums , no guitars but high energy and more elctronica than goth , but great nonetheless.I managed to fined an hour gig of them so you can see just how good they are. The crowd and band were jumping for an hour and they were the only ones who had time to do a short encore.

All in all a brilliant night and if you et the chance to see any of these bands I totally recommend you take it.