Sweet Unrest, Scarlet Sometimes and Honey Motel at the Camden Eye

Unable to bully a friend into joining me, I went on my own to another night of Sweet Unrest's fortnightly Friday residency at the Camden Eye. The joy of these evenings isn't just to see the band, or have a chat to guitarist Tom who is kind enough to have a conversation whenever I turn up, or to enjoy the atmosphere, or even the admission fee of £8. No, the other thing is the chance to see new bands, curated by Sweet Unrest and so I know they will be to my general taste.

First of course one has to accept that this is not a slick operation. So the website said doors open at 7:30, the ticket said 8. So I decided to split the difference and go for 7:45. The venue is upstairs above the Camden Eye bar so I got my pint and met random bloke coming down the stairs and asked him if it was open yet. He said 5 or 10 minutes. So I went back into the bar, gave it a generous 10 minutes and returned to the sparsely populated venue, after first having a chat with Tom.

On come Liverpool band Honey Motel, at which point I realised the random bloke I had met on the stairs was actually their guitarist (in natty hooped jumper below). Sadly at this juncture the "crowd" was about a dozen, which does make me feel for the opening act. However, never fear, numbers rapidly grew and the place was respectably full, and appreciative of the act, by the end of their set. They had come a long way and I found from talking to the lead singer (well I was watching them right in front of me and the "stage" is a line of black tape, so one isn't exactly separated by a gulf) they had a long way to go that night, travelling back to York to stay with his parents on way to another gig the next day. Anyway, I liked them well enough although I thought the sound balance wasn't in their favour, too high on guitar to my right (my ears are still ringing) but not enough on the lead singer's vocals, which sounded like they would be very decent .

So having congratulated the guy for a good set, they were replaced by Scarlet Sometimes, by whom I was quite blown away. The openers had been what I would hope for, nice enough guitar band that I am happy to listen to. Scarlet Sometimes were a rather eclectic looking bunch, as if they hadn't all got the message on dress code, but they sounded superb. Quite exceptional. Said as much to the guitarist and lead singer at the end and they seemed suitably pleased at the feedback. But they really were tremendous. Music was great, songs interesting (who writes a song about coronation chicken sandwiches?) all delivered by very proficient vocalist (in appropriately scarlet jacket). Glaswegians (or at least the front man and guitarist seemed to be when I talked to them), I know nothing else about them. But they have a gig in Hackney next month so will endeavour to see them again and find out more. (Also notable that they had the only female band member of the whole gig.)

And finally the boys from Sweet Unrest. Jack as always the star of the show. No shrinking violet on stage. Turned up in embroidered jacket, black hat and sunglasses. None of which were going to last the evening!

I just like this band's performances. They really seem to enjoy themselves. The largely post punk music suits my taste (albeit leavened with some quieter numbers and a rendition of Wild Cherry's classic Play That Funky Music). And they are just so watchable, especially Jack whom the others seem content to allow all the limelight to. 

Tom on guitar

They even acquired a mosh pit for Down by the Riverside as the evening got hot and sweaty, quite an achievement when capacity is well under a hundred people. So a small mosh pit - a micro-mosh?