6/12/2007 Big Num & Red Star Rebels @ the 100 Club

Subject	Big Num & Red Star Rebels @ the 100 Club
PostedDate	12/6/2007
	I like the 100 Club. It's small enough to be intimate, but still has everything you need in a venue. Also, the bar serves real ale - how many proper club venues do that? And the beer is quite reasonably priced for the West End as well.  And after you've had a few drinks and have to visit the toilet - it has the world's best hand drier! The Dyson Blade hand drier is a brilliant peice of kit - hands-free operation and it dries your hands virtually instantly. Why doesn't every pub and club have these brilliant devices? Oh yes, and the 100 Club has bands playing too. Sometimes very good ones. Tonight the bands are of variable quality. I miss the first band - they were only allowed 20 minutes and must have finished just after 8.00. Ugly Muscle are on next - fairly generic stoner rock. Well played with plenty of heavy riffing but with no memorable songs. They reminded me a bit of The Clams, but not as good. Big Num were 'main support' and played a good set. A classic rock sound with good songs and a high standard of musicianship. It's nice to see them playing in a well known venue like this - it's certainly what they deserve to showcase their talents. The crowd seem to like them, even though probably hardly anyone knows who they are - they certainly win people over with their tight punchy sound. Tonight Big Num play mostly songs featured on MySpace and their latest CD or two - finishing with the older but very catchy 'Too Clever For Words'. Red Star Rebels are the headline band at this 'showcase' gig. I haven't seen them for about a year and there have been changes in the lineup since then. I've seen this band quite a few times, and although they were a bit cheesy and cliched for my taste with their 80's sleaze wannabe vibe - I could see their appeal and have to admit they were very good at what they did. What they had then, they seem to have now lost. The singer has lost his awful hat - which is a very good thing, although he has now acquired one which makes him look like Alex Zane. Something else has disappeared along with the dodgy hat and they are certainly not the band they were. They don't sound as tight and polished as they used to, and their sleaze/glam image has been toned down considerably - they now look more like a pub band. They used to have a sizable following, but that seems to have ebbed away too and the 100 Club is probably not half full. I don't stay until the end...