I love metal

It's the first very cold night of the year but a brisk walk from Old Street to Shoreditch keeps us warm and we have a drink in the Bridge pub which is very quirky and pretty pricey. Pete and Wendy are at the brilliantly, or rather lazily, named Dream Bags Jaguar Shoes watching the first band so we sup up and pop down to the cellar. We catch a few songs of Sweet Juno who's sound is really good. They play a sort of slacker indie with swirly guitar reminiscent of the Banshees. Competent and a good start to the evening given that I decided on the venue and night for convenience rather than knowing anything about the bands. We do our usual going upstairs to the bar to see if we can get a seat before coming downstairs again. Next up are Mopes who play a great set. They play a modern take on what I take to be americana so a sort of bluesy folky american rock at times. A bit 90's american indie tinges of Thurston Moore style but as the set goes on they regress. But in a very good way. The music gets a little harder and New York underground vibe sets in going back to 70's indie punk or new wave as we used to call it. Then further back to proto punk sounding like a less chaotic and less metal New York Dolls. Without the makeup. Well, most of them. Anyway that's the journey they sent me on. And the female bassist looks a bit like Joan Jett if I remember rightly. Or maybe that was just the Leffe Blond. If the small cellar was packed for Sweet Juno, which it was, then this is fuller although still space for those towards the front to dance about a bit. The singer asks how much time have they got and is told five minutes to which the crowd shout various clever replies such as three hour set and time for three more songs. My hilarious shout out. They play their last song of the set. And then an energetic encore. A great set showing a great versatility. With great finishes to their songs too. Upstairs downstairs again like goosey gander where the cellar is now not very crowded at all. That's the problem with cheap or free (as this one is) gigs as often the support bands mates turn up then go to the bar (worse if on a different floor or room) and don't bother to watch the main act. Anyway they have a tight bunch of followers at the front so it doesn't seem too empty. Birdfeeder are a metal influenced band who come over pretty heavy and dark. A good link to the first band who's front person was wearing a I 💓 Metal T shirt. Anyway the band are dark metal probably weaned on Sabbath or some other gawdawful dark metal bands. I'm not saying Sabbath were godawful tho some of their stuff is a little suspect but they spawned an awful lot of evil shite. This band aren't shite at all though. Having recently seen the light regarding jazz, although to be fair I've not searched any out since Ronnie Scotts, maybe now I'm seeing the light side of metal. Hopefully not. Debbie and Wendy are certainly not and go back upstairs to their ladies, or should I say womens, chamber. Pete and I stay for the rest of the set which is pretty good and I wouldn't actively avoid them in future. Their tightly knit group of followers are enjoying them with some lads bouncing around with arms round shoulders and hair flailing and a group of girls who look like they're in Shoreditch to find a trendy bar but stumbled into a metal club but they are grooving to the satanic beat too. An enjoyable set indeed. After a while they finish one song and then the singer sheepishly says that they have now run out of songs to play. Disappointed groans from the audience and me and Pete saying to each other why don't they just play them all again. Would we even realise? Anyway the band say they're going to do a quick jam and then launch into a fantastic heavy funk number that is getting everyone grooving along. Pete and I are just laughing about the change in style but it's brilliant. The kids are loving it and so are me and Pete. Their time on stage, well, at one end of the cellar as the stage is in fact the bit of the flooring next to the fireplace, over the band mumble their thanks and us old men go upstairs and aren't flung down again. We have a final drink whilst musing on spring classics, Budapest, skiing, le Tour and birthday outings (Debbie and Pete in January) before taking leave of each other and Debbie and I stride back to Old Street and tube back south. It seems to have warmed up a bit. A great night totally unexpected band wise. Must give the place another go soon.

The Bridge

I love Metal

We love 1970 NYC rock

The stage

We love Metal too

I love badges

Old Street pavement art which makes me very excited and very apt given the 2nd band's NYC vibe and the last band's funk number.

Snõõper

A mid week gig which only Debbie and I go to in lieu of Blackpool (another story) and this is as far from the elegant moves, twirls and splits as you can get. Ditto dress sense from stylish 70s north west England to blindfolded jumble sale chic 20s south west London. And although the music at each may have come from the USA one is northern soul and the other southern punk. As we're parking our bikes (badly in my case, see later) we can see the band chatting to a couple of punters and I cheerily say that I hope the gig goes well on my way in. They politely thank me. Ah, nice kids hey? At that age if I were them I'd have probably said something stupid like Where's your cocoa and slippers Grandad. We get a drink and then the support band are on. They play a fantastic hard core punk set reminiscent of the anarcho punk scene of Crass Subhumans etc. blended with the Ramones. High energy short and fast no messing about. A bit of a mosh too. I didn't catch what they are called, something like NOB IT but can't find anything on them by searching the internet. [Update after End of the Road 2024. Having bashed into one of them in the EOTR Snooper mosh pit and then chatting to them about 2 am they are called Nov LT (geddit) and then the guy lost his phone.]  Maybe a supergroup playing punk for the evening? Anyway a great start to the evening. After our regulation sojourn in the garden we come back in to see the main band Snõõper. They start off fast loud and anarchic in a chaotically tight, or should that be a tightly chaotic, vein which continues throughout. Musically they are sort of New York original punk but with influences half way between West Coast hard core and UK thrash. Which I guess is NYC anyway. I'm not sure what the Nashville punk scene is like but if it's all like this I should go visit (chatting afterwards the mulleted guitarist tells us that there aren't too many punk bands amongst the country bluegrass venues and that's all found when I stayed a night there but that was a while ago, as in late 1980s). It's not punk by numbers though. The tunes are fast and punky and although chaotic they are damn fine musicians with an edge all of their own and not taking themselves too seriously. There's one interlude of a slower number which may have been a break in the set with some tunings up or a change of a string then straight back into the blaze of punk heaven. A large paper mache head is paraded into the mosh and pogos which seems like the most natural thing in the world right now. Being nudged about a fair bit I find myself in the mosh and quite happy to stay there for the rest of the set. The mosh has pretty much taken in all of the sell out crowd as the band don't take any prisoners. Although you can touch the roof if you jump with enough energy there's a fair bit of crowd surfing both from the band and the punters. Being the age I am I'm slightly concerned that the cables will be pulled down or a lighting rig will fall on the crowd but I don't think most of the kids would have given a toss. Oh to be young and stupid again. Having driven us into a frenzied mass of jumping pushing stumbling laughing humanity (excepting the paper mache thing and Roof Dog) the set is ended and the band start coiling up their leads whilst the DJ starts their stint. Wow. What a great night. We're so energised we have another drink, most of which I knock on the floor and have to get another, and cool down in the garden next to the rockery. After that we go outside where I find out that I've inadvertently threaded my bike cable through another guys bike and he's been patiently waiting for 20 minutes having tried asking everyone in the garden if they have a red bike outside. He and the girl he's with are very polite, again, more so than I would probably be, and say at least they had a bit of time to chat to some strangers. Feeling like a complete dickhead I release his bike. The mullet headed guitarist is also taking the air and I say how great they are and that they should play Glastonbury and Wide Awake and come back to the best venue in the UK if not Europe (Windmill) and other such blather. He seems genuinely happy to chat and when I ask if they're playing London again he says they have a couple of gigs this week but they have to get back home as the woman singer is an English teacher and can only tour during school holidays. So they'll be back in the summer. Singer of the best current punk band and still has a day job. There's no money in playing small venues I guess. By this time the landlord is out walking Roof Dog so after a quick pet of the dog, who's much more interested in the smells around the outside tables, it's time to cycle off home. Great night. Internet searching for the support I discover that Snooper are of the genre Egg Punk. Go internet search...

Anonymous support band

Snooper in colour

Snooper cos they are worth nearly the same photo again

Punk Rock!

Children's arts and craft on acid (not my description)

Punk Rock!!

I think he's trying to tell me something...