27/10/2008 Stonewall Noise Orchestra & Disarm in Islington

Subject	Stonewall Noise Orchestra & Disarm in Islington
PostedDate	10/27/2008
	Monday night at Islington Bar Academy - a nice little venue apart from the Carling Bar, but you can't have everything I guess. Cavalar are on first - well played but very generic retro metal. Bloody hell - it's Disarm again! There is no escape from these marauding northern glam-punks as they cross another London club venue off their 'Played there' list. They continue to get better each time I see them - in fact the mix is so good tonight that I've never heard them sound so good. They manage to get through their set without destroying the drumkit this time - in fact apart from Brad's guitar strap coming off nothing seems to go wrong for once! As Disarm continue their no-holds-barred assault on the capital I am puzzled by the presence of a rug on lead guitarist Jamie's side of the stage? It's not very 'punk rock' - are they going soft? Tonight's headliners are Stonewall Noise Orchestra. These Swedish stoners are new to me, but I'm certainly glad to discover them. I also discover the reason for the rug on the stage - a guitarist with bare feet! This band don't look too cool, but they sound great! They play really well and have a heavy stoner groove vibe. There's a lot of heavy riffing going on and they remind me a lot of Fu Manchu, with maybe a bit of Queens Of The Stone Age mixed in. A good singer too - instead of the usual screaming and shouting from most bands of a heavier persuasion these days. It's not often that I see a band 'cold' knowing nothing about them and get into their sound straight away, but I was impressed enough with the noise they made to go straight to the merch stand after the gig to buy their album. It's rather good too.