12/11/2008 Honeykill, Zen Motel & Noise @ Camden Rock

Subject	Honeykill, Zen Motel & Noise @ Camden Rock
PostedDate	11/12/2008
	After last week's new band showcase night, this will the the last Pure Rawk promotions gig of the year. Unfortunately, Camden Rock still reeks of new paint.  First band of the night is Honeykill - playing a rare acoustic set as a two piece and trying out some new songs. Although this is supposed to be a stripped down (semi) acoustic show, there is so much equipment (mainly belonging to the other bands) on stage that there is barely room for Tish and Jimi! It makes an interesting change to see Honeykill's songs performed in this manner - and one or two technical problems aside it works quite well. It makes a nice change to be able to hear Jimi's voice so clearly. Tish switches between bass and keyboard. There are one or two unplanned breaks due to equipment problems and string breakages - so Tish and Jimi fill in with a bit of banter while they sort things out. It almost gets like a stand-up routine - except that they are sitting down! We see a new side of the band - Funnykill!  It all makes for an unusual and entertaining show. It's good to see a different side of the band for a change, although I'll always prefer their usual full-on electric ROCK show.  Next we have Zen Motel - another band who have started doing things a little differently recently. Due to normal lead guitarist Alex moving to Brighton to run a bar (madness surely!) and not always being available for gigs the lineup has been re-jigged. Cue Lee moving from bass to guitar and a new bassman being drafted in. The new version of the band takes a bit of getting used to after seeing them so many times, but it seems to be coming together. Last time I saw the band Lee was just doing lead vocals and leaving guitar duties to Alex and Si so this all seems a bit strange, but not in a bad way. This version of the band seems quite dynamic tonight, and it will be interesting to see how things develop... Last band tonight is Noise. They are from Iceland and are quite similar to their compatriots Sign - in fact you could believe the two band's frontmen are brothers! Like Sign, the standard of musicianship and lead vocals is high. Both bands also share a very classic 'metal' sound. It's quality stuff, but none of their songs strike me as being very memorable. Don't Sign also use a loudhailer? Noise are certainly worth checking out, but don't seem to have yet developed as much of their own character as Sign. In spite of the venue no longer being a pleasant place to spend time it's worth the trip down to Camden to see all these bands, especially as Pure Rawk gigs are always cheap on the door and offer excellent value for money.  Bargain! I doubt I shall darken the doors of this place again before December 20th when No Direction will close the place as the last rock act to play there. Hopefully, the stench of that foul green paint will finally have gone by then...