Bones Ate Arfa, Maya and Aqualine at Paper Dress Vintage

This was was the opening night of Bones Ate Arfa's tour. A modest start to a tour around Britain and northern Europe that goes into April. Paper Dress Vintage is an unusual venue - vintage clothes shop by day, rock venue by night, and it has a beer garden and a bar. The actual venue is above the shop and bar and its a comfortably informal space with a decent sized stage - many of the smaller venues have terribly cramped stages which leave the performers very short of space. And if you are a rock band worth your salt you want to have some room in which to leap about a bit.

Sound is very good too. Main downside of the place in my view is the lighting. All three bands had a drummer but no photos of them because they were all cast in deep darkness throughout right of stage.

Anyway, to begin, Aquiline. Totally new band to me - a five piece. As I said to Ben, the lead singer, afterwards, it was a nice surprise to hear them play as when I see a band come on with four guitars I expect them to go hell for leather and produce a wall of sound. But this lot were muted and more subtle. Ben on vocals has a decent voice and overall a pleasant sound. I would happily see them again.

Maya were louder. But not a bad thing. They shared the vocals around a bit which possibly was a bad thing as their lead vocalist had the best voice by a country mile. Energetic rock group

Possibly going for the least rock n roll appearance of any member of any rock band  - Kermit headband and old school grey jumper

The chunky lead singer had an excellent rock voice, and wasn't afraid to bounce his considerable frame around. He didn't feel constrained by the size of the stage and happily jumped into the crowd (which wasn't a very big one). First time I have really seen an act join in a mosh pit (albeit a very small one - possibly four people too small to meet the definition of mosh pit?)

One pleasant thing about gigs at this level is there is a reasonably short turnaround of acts - no hour long wait for soundchecks - just long enough really to get another drink or, for a surprisingly large number of these youngsters, a quick fag. Nevertheless it was long enough for me to spot a young man in the audience  called Leo Stewart whom I have seen play guitar a couple of times. Its a small music scene and some of them come to support their mates in other bands.

So onto Bones Ate Arfa. Almost all photos of Arfa as I was standing right beneath him, and the lighting wasn't good enough really to catch either Sonny to his right or Richie on drums to his left. A lot of the more professional photographers patrol the front like war photographers, and use flash with long lenses. I take the view that I am there to see the band and just like to record what I can from where I am stood. And flash is cheating!

Anyway, it was a good set by Bones Ate Afra. I generally feel each time I see them they are marginally better. Unlike the opening act, even with just their two guitars, they do go hell for leather, generating a lot of noise in their grungy style. I just think they are very good. Arfa supplies the main focal point both performing most of the vocals and doing most of the movement on stage. What I have remarked upon before, both in the context of this band and others, is that the most aggressive sounding bands on stage, with Arfa's rasping, snarling vocals and Richie's pounding drums, are the nicest most charming people off stage. As I was putting my coat on Arfa was engaged in a conversation with someone and suddenly he had this charming smiling countenance totally at odds with his screaming persona 5 minutes before.

I do look forward some time to seeing them headline on a bigger stage with a longer set. They certainly have the talent and the songs