25/2/2011 Pure Rawk Awards 2011

Subject	Pure Rawk Awards 2011
PostedDate	3/6/2011
	This is a night a load of us had been looking forward to for months - the  Pure Rawk Awards are always an event to look forward to on the rock calendar!  This year's sold out event at Bloomsbury Bowling Lanes was a lot of fun. At £3.50 for a large bottle of Adnams the bar was less expensive than I expected, and they even had bottles of the rather lairy Punk IPA.  It seemed like I knew nearly everybody in the room (I didn't of course) with loads of old friends in bands from all over the country - some that I hadn't seen in ages. I'm afraid I was a bit slack in taking pictures as there was so much going on and so many people to say hello to - it all became a bit of a blur. Nothing to do with all the beer of course!  The first act of the evening was an acoustic (not quite) duo who's name I can't remember. Then it was onto the awards themselves - with more bands playing in between. 'Band Of The Year' went to the excellent Black Spiders - a popular choice and a band I saw at The Garage only a couple of days earlier as regular readers will know.  The 'New Breed' award went to St Jude - who I will be seeing for the first time soon... The very cool and very popular Rob Lane picked up two awards: 'Bassist of the Year' and 'Label of the year' for his Trashpit Records.  'New Band' went to Stereo Juggernaut and the brilliant Eureka Machines picked up 'Video of the Year'. 'Album of the Year' went to Mancunian riffmeisters Obsessive Compulsive. Trudi Knight bagged the well deserved 'Underground Photographer of the Year' for all her hard work around the country taking pictures of bands at gigs and photo sessions. In a stroke of supreme irony, 'Local Venue of the Year' was won by the very popular Gaff - just weeks after it shut down.  A lot of us really miss that place.  Well done to all the award winners - for a full list click here. Oh, and yours truly somehow got an award as well.  I had to make a speech, but didn't manage to say everything I wanted to - always the way I guess. I am not worthy - someone else should have been standing there instead of me... The musical acts performing at the awards were a very varied bunch. After a (nearly) acoustic start we later got Kiria. I'm not sure exactly what the crutches were all about, but I'm told she did need them on the night and they weren't just a prop - no pun intended.  It was a rather bizarre performance from the sleazy pop/punk starlet, and after the arrival onstage of 'Little Red Riding Hood' things rapidly turned into chaos! I think alcohol may have been involved... This was a bit of a 'car crash' of a performance, but you had to watch to see what was going to happen next. Like a giant dancing Jelly Baby for instance! Kiria does have a song called 'Jelly Baby' in case you were wondering. Also appearing later were 'New Band' winners Stereo Juggernaut who in my opinion turned in the set of the night - in spite of the sound on stage being pretty terrible. This band had a very good night, and not only did they win the new band award, but Tish was also runner up for the 'Bassist of the Year' award. There's no shame being beaten by Rob Lane though, as he plays in so many bands! Stereo Juggernaut drew one of the biggest audiences of the night, and definitely got more people dancing than any other band. Last band of the night was Nottingham's Illuminatus. They are a bit 'metal' for my taste and none of their songs really grabbed me in spite of all their furious riffing. They certainly seemed good at what they do though. All in all a great fun night with lots going on.  And delicious homemade cupcakes on sale in aid of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and the Transplant Ward at Harefield Hospital were the late John Rayner was treated. We miss seeing him and his camera at all the gigs we all go to - he was a really nice guy and a well known character on the scene. As I meant to say when I was on stage earlier - He was one of us - a true music fan and keen supporter of the underground rock scene. We need more like him. On a lighter note - I'll leave you with the husband of the winner of the 'Underground Photographer of the Year' award. A MASSIVE thanks to Nix & Andy at Pure Rawk for all the countless hours of hard work they have put into making this event happen and making it all run so smoothly on the night in spite of a few 'behind the scenes' dramas.  Everyone I know had a great time!  Same time next year then?