Simon and me again at the Windmill and again Gag Salon are on the line up. As I lock up my bike I can hear a noisy blast from inside and as I enter I see that it's Non-Threatening Boys on stage with a fairly big crowd. Their first song is a right raucous riot of a tune with the lead singer guitarist thrashing about impressively. I'm reading Richard Hell's autobiography and the lead singer reminds me of Hell. He's very appreciative that I tell him that later in the night. But back to their set. The rest of the short set is not quite as fast punk indeed sounds more like the Voidoids than the first song as they have a great selection of hard edged catchy tunes. The band are drums, bass, 2 guitars and nice and tight. A great start to the evening. By this time I've found Simon in his peaky blinders get up. Next up are the headliners from the last time we were here and I'm interested in seeing if Gag Salon are how I thought they were. Basically yes. So read the last blog post. A summary is a great set of British funky punk with great guitar playing including a fair bit of soloing. Unlike last time when it was truly packed this time we are on the dance floor bit in front of the stage so can appreciate watching the band. They are very good. The crowd can't help jigging about and it's getting crowded with a couple of women in caps standing right in front of me. You know the score, a few squeeze past en route to a space which isn't there and they then stop right where you were standing and stood back to let them pass. Anyway great band. Simon and I nip outside for a bit and as we come in bump into one of the women in caps who turns out to be our mate Chris' daughter Bella (Aussie Chris, not Leicester Chris who also has a daughter Bella and that's not their only coincidence). Anyway we have a catch up as not seen her for a while and bump into her a couple of times during the night to buy her and a friend drinks. Well Simon does as it never seems to be my round. Talking of which we do put away a fair bit including lager, G&T, rum (just cos it's a bottle of Woods) and whiskey. So the headliners are Mush which is why we're here as it's a Ramsay recommendation. Which could or could not be a good thing. Sorry Rams :-) They are a strange mix of great and, ummm, uninspiring. They start strong with a great rocking quirky sound and a shouty vocals very much like The Fall in their rock and roll phase. Then they trail off a bit or maybe that's just me and Simon but Bella says the same. After that brief lull in excitement they pick up the tempo and rawness and finish their set with a few hard and fast numbers that draw myself and Simon in and somehow end up moshing about with the kids. Must have been that dark rum that made us do it. Of course no encore and we go back outside. I nip back in and get caught up chatting to Richard Hell and back outside apologise to lonely Simon but he says he's been chatting to a few young girls who sat next to him. It's that sort of place. We say our farewells to Bella and back inside we have a last whiskey for the road which isn't a great idea as we're both cycling and indeed I do have a tussle with a grassy verge on the way back. A great night and as so often at the Windmill I'd like to see the headliners again. To be honest all 3 are well worth another viewing. My phone camera is still on the blink and makes everything wavy so it's wasn't just my eyes last time out so Simon is my official photographer and he's made a pretty good start in his new career.
 |
| Non-Threatening Boys indeed not all are boys, or Richard Hell |
 |
| Simon insisted on getting a close up of Gag Salon's topless drummer |
 |
| Gagging for it. All photos (c) SJC |
 |
| Mush before the mosh |
No comments:
Post a Comment