21/10/2005 Bare Necessities first ever UK gig

Subject	Bare Necessities first ever UK gig
DateCreated	10/23/2005 6:32:00 AM
PostedDate	10/21/2005 5:34:00 AM
	Went to the Dirty Water Club in Tufnell Park to see Bare Necessities play their first ever show in the UK. The band come from Sweden and were formed over there by ex-Pittstops frontman Ant. Ironically enough, the last time I met Ant it was also at this venue when he was singing with his band from Nottingham thePittstops. That band quite a punk influence, but his new band are more of a straight ahead rock 'n' roll band - and a damn good one too.  Bare Necessities had been promoted to headline band as the other band had pulled out of the gig, but before them we got to see the Stabilisers. They were new to me but rather good. They looked a bit incongruous as far as their attire went - the bass player looked more like he should be in a mod band, and the fact that he was toting a Thunderbird bass looked a little odd as well. However, they sounded better than they looked and turned out to be a good rock 'n' roll band - certainly worth seeing. It was late by the time Bare Necessities finally took to the stage, but they were worth the wait. Ant has put together a pretty good rock 'n' roll band since he moved to Sweden - all good players, and with more of a glam/sleaze influence than his last band. They have some good songs too - you can check some of them out on their website and also their MySpace. Ant is an excellent frontman and believes in taking the show out to the audience - frequently getting off the stage and dragging his mic stand out into the crowd and making people feel more involved with the show. The band throw in a couple of covers - one by the New York Dolls, and also a Flamin' Groovies song - which felt kind of weird to me as only a few days earlier I had been performing that same song at a gig with my own band. I'd had a bit of a strange day as in less than 24 hours I'd heard songs that my band played last Saturday on the radio, in a shop, performed by friends in another band, and now played by Bare Necessities too! Unfortunately, due to the band's late stage time I had to leave before the end of their set to catch the last train home, but I hope to catch them again in London before too long...