10/7/2007 Bubblegum Screw @ the Hope & Anchor

Subject	Bubblegum Screw @ the Hope & Anchor
PostedDate	7/10/2007
	I'd been trying to get to see Bubblegum Screw for a while, but their gigs either got cancelled or clashed with my other musical activities. This is the second time they have played at the Hope & Anchor - they are headlining tonight and before them I watch some stoner type band called (I think) Aixir. They are fronted by a guitar wielding Krusher lookalike. They remind me a bit of Fu Manchu, but Jonni reckoned they were more like Black Label Society. They had loads of heavy riffing, but not much in the way of memorable songs. I felt a bit sorry for them as they had a three and a half hour drive to the gig - to play in front af next to no one. However, I know another band who drove straight back to Newcastle the same night after playing this venue! To be honest, I wasn't expecting Bubblegum Screw to be anything special judging by the three songs of theirs I'd heard on MySpace, but they were actually rather good live! Singer Mark is an excellent frontman and had rather a New York Dolls thing going on. Recently joined guitarist Jonni (not on the current MySpace songs) reminded me a lot of The Rev from Towers Of London - with some added Johnny Thunders and Hanoi Rocks influences. The rest of the band certainly rocked out too - the venue appeared too small physically for this band and I imagine they would be even better at a larger venue like the Purple Turtle. The band throw out a lot of energy, without it seeming as contrived as many bands do. Their songs were raw punk edged rock 'n' roll, although I was reminded of Ash at one point. A song called 'Rock & Roll Loser' seemed to stand out more than the others as potential single material. Unfortunately, the set was marred by some technical problems midway through and one of the guitars fell silent, although this got sorted out after a fashion. I was travelling light and only had my camera-phone with me at this gig - I didn't manage to get any decent quality pictures as the lighting was so poor. This band certainly put some effort into putting on a good show and I found myself being suitably entertained - I'll certainly be going to see them again.

PS: Sorry about the pictures not displaying - there might be about three years worth of blog posts like this due to server issues. I still have all the original pictures I took at the gigs, but it's just too much hard work to find and individually upload hundreds of pictures to another server.