19/5/2008 - Part 1. Vamps 'N' Gypsies @ Bar Monsta

Subject	Bar Monsta 19th May (Part 1) Vamps ’N’ Gypsies
PostedDate	5/19/2008
	Yes, finally another blog! Normal (or what passes for 'normal' here) service is resumed. Maybe. The reason my regular blogs haven't been appearing for a while is that I simply haven't had time. These things are quite time consuming to do, what with sorting/editing, etc the many pictures I take at gigs, researching and including links and so on - not to mention actually writing the bloody things and battling with my shite broadband connection (thanks Tiscali) and MySpace and it's many 'unexpected error' messages. I've still been going to plenty of gigs as usual, as well as organising stuff, like finding two new band members, rehearsal, and practicing my own vox/guitar for a gig of my own as well as getting my car serviced and MOT'd - hence the lack of time. It's not like I get paid for this or anything, so blogging has had to go on the backburner for a while. So now I have a massive backlog to catch up up, as well as more gigs to go to - now back to watching other people play. For the time being... What's worrying me now is that as I attempt to write up gigs that I went to about two months ago my alcohol addled memory (poor at the best of times) won't be able to remember much of what the shows were actually like...  So without further ado. I'm going to break this night at Bar Monsta down into four separate blogs as I have far too many pictures to sort through/edit and too little time. First on stage were the terrific Vamps 'N' Gypsies  They showcased quite a bit of new material (as well as Danny's new guitar). The band turned in a polished performance to a very appreciative crowd. Most unusually for this band, nothing broke for once! Also unusually (in recent times) the house PA sounded OK - probably through having a better engineer running it, working monitors/mic leads and mic stands that weren't falling to bits for a change. It's good to see an improvement in this area as this venue's PA has been increasingly dilapidated over recent months and band's shows have suffered as a result.  This band seem to have had a bit of a jinx over them for their last few gigs here as both the venue's and the band's own equipment has been prone to breakages. Hopefully, the band and Bar Monsta are now putting this problems behind them. Vamps 'N' Gypsies never fail to put on an entertaining show and always throw themselves (sometimes literally) wholeheartedly into every performance. It helps that they also have songs that are noticeably better than most the other bands on the same scene, as well as not taking themselves as seriously as many other bands on the Camden club circuit.

PS: The previously really cool Bar Monsta went rapidly downhill when it turned into 'Camden Rock' - a venue best avoided.