29/6/2007 Tracie Hunter Band & Shush @ Bar Monsta

Subject	Tracie Hunter Band & Shush @ Bar Monsta
PostedDate	6/29/2007
	Only two bands on the bill at Bar Monsta this time, but they are both quality acts. Shush need no introduction to regular readers of my blog and continue to get better and better. Fairly recent addition to the band Paul the drummer seems to be fitting in well and brings plenty of power to the band as he batters his kit to within an inch of it's life. The band sound particularly loud tonight and Milena's sublime vocals get lost in the mix slightly. Marina seems to be enjoying playing bass more than ever these days. This band has a lot of hair to fling about and much headbanging goes on! It's a few years since I've seen the Tracie Hunter Band - the last time being a Five Miles High show at the Borderline. Although the band were good at that gig, it was a bit middle-of-the-road for my tastes and not really my sort of thing. However, I suspect that the entire line-up of the band (apart from Ms Hunter herself) has changed since then and this is a harder and heavier band than the one I saw at the Borderline - a definite improvement as far as I'm concerned. It's good to see Ed (ex of the Roolettes) on guitar. There are some decent songs on offer here too, but unfortunately the sound mix isn't as good as it was for Shush earlier - the guitars suffer in particular. It was certainly worth the trip down to Camden on a Friday night to see these two bands - even if the Newcastle Brown Ale was only available in cans instead of bottles on this occasion - not only are they smaller than the bottles but it doesn't taste as good either.  At least I didn't get asked if I was Ian Hunter again!

This venue later became the truly horrible 'Camden Rock' - avoid like the plague!