Uncle Junior, Oral Habit, Flytrap and Fool at Paper Dress Vintage

A pub gig that I went to one my own. A new venue to me, and when I say "pub" its a vintage clothes shop in Hackney. Which by night turns into a bar. You can see they push the clothes to one side and have a big curtain to close them off. They have a neat little beer garden at the back. And the music venue is the room above the shop. Quirky. But have to say Hackney is a pain to get to from my place - an area without a tube station.

I had seen two of the acts before, and one of them I particularly rated. And then there were two other acts as a bonus. All might vaguely come under the term "noise rock". I heard an interview with the lead singer of the headliners who said they started out as a  punk band but found that too limiting. Which can hardly be a big surprise. All the big successful original punk bands either veered off into other directions (Blondie, Jam, Stranglers) or quickly ran out of steam (Sex Pistols). What these bands try to do is come out of the quick thrash, or verse, chorus, repeat stuff and go for something noisy and more free form. Which can be interesting, or just sound all over the place. Depends how well it is done.

So opening were this band called Fool. Honestly I wanted to like these lads, but they offered so little. And no stage craft at all. They didn't even have a finish  - one moment they were playing and then they just stopped.

So next up were Flytrap whom I have seen twice and rather liked. Having both a male and a female vocalist works - not in harmony but as counterpoints as it were. The skinny lad in the white t-shirt is a properly talented musician. 

As Oral Habit were above Flytrap in the bill I had some expectations. Sadly not met. The lead singer looked more mature - he looked like a junior solicitor. But the vocals were largely yelped, the girl on guitar stayed very much in the background. I didn't enjoy them at all.

And that left Uncle Junior. The main observation I would make is that only at this point did it feel like a proper gig. There was an atmosphere. The small crowd seemed to be enjoying themselves. They sprang to life, even forming a small mosh pit. The lead singer has very striking looks (for those of an older vintage, a skinny Billy Idol comes to mind). And not untypical for a punk band, far from the aggressive nature of the music, seemed very softly spoken. Would see them again, but not go out of my way to do so.