3/3/2012 Lilygun Upstairs @ The Garage

Subject	Lilygun Upstairs @ The Garage
DateCreated	3/4/2012 6:27:00 PM
PostedDate	3/5/2012 8:35:00 PM
	We are now into March and after the expected quiet start to the year gig-wise things still haven't picked up - cover bands in local pubs aside I haven't been to a gig for two weeks now. What's going on? Still, at least this Saturday night there is something interesting going on in Islington. I haven't been to a gig 'upstairs' at The Garage since the venue re-opened a couple of years ago. Not much has changed apart from a lick of paint - the toilets and bar are still inadequate if the place is full - which it isn't tonight. At least part of the reason for this is probably that TFL have decided to close both the Victoria Line and the northern half of the Northern Line this weekend. Thanks guys. This is normally one of the easiest venues for me to get to - on a weeknight just one train takes me straight there, or two at weekends or on the way home. There are supposedly 'Rail Replacement' buses laid on to cover the out of action part of the Victoria Line so my journey should still be simple enough if slightly longer... So I arrive at Finsbury Park and try to find the appropriate bus stop. I am given conflicting directions by each of the uniformed TFL employees I ask - all wrong. I spend ages at what I assume is the right bus stop and all the 'Rail Replacement' buses that arrive are going in the right direction but terminate at this stop. Most the drivers won't even open the doors to let me ask them if I am at the right stop. None of the drivers I do actually manage to speak to seem to know anything. Eventually I give up and jump on a regular bus to Holloway Road - none of them actually seem to go down Holloway Road itself so I have to get another bus down it to The Garage. Eventually. The first bus that arrives is so full the driver won't open the doors and let anyone on, although he lets quite a few people off. My journey to the venue should have taken just over 45 minutes even allowing for having to take a bus for the last part of the journey - it takes nearly an hour and a half and I'm pretty pissed off by the time I eventually get to the gig... It's an all female fronted rock night Upstairs @ The Garage. The first band is Black Casino And The Ghost. I should have arrived in time to see them, but TFL ensured I missed their entire set even though I had allowed plenty of extra journey time. London based Italian outfit MAB are on next. Although they have been recommended to me in the past I've never managed to catch them until now. I had been looking forward to seeing this band, but only two girls appeared on stage and the singer announced "We are part of MAB" - not an encouraging start. Apparently their guitarist couldn't make it (TFL again?) and they have to perform as just a guitar/vox/drums duo tonight with their usual bassist on guitar duties. Actually, they acquit themselves pretty well in the circumstances, with quite a heavy sound and real proper singing instead of the screaming and shouty vocals I was expecting.  MAB are certainly worth checking out with the full band at some future date - even if the singer committed the cardinal sin of wearing that most un-rock & roll of garments a cardigan on stage! I can't even begin to describe how wrong that is - but if I have to explain you wouldn't understand... Next up is The Mariana Hollow. I've seen this band a couple of times before as well as heard them on the radio, but tonight they don't seem as good as I remember them. They play well enough, although the vocals are maybe a bit too low in the mix tonight. Somehow I feel they have lost direction a bit. I'm probably in the minority with my opinion and The Mariana Hollow seem to have brought more people than any other band has managed through the door tonight. Headliners Lilygun are the main reason I'm here tonight, and they don't disappoint. The current lineup of the band is probably the heaviest and hardest rocking one yet, although that's only part of what this band is about. Having seen this band a few times now it gets hard to write about them without repeating myself - how many times can I write about the 'charismatic Anna Christina' and how she 'stalks the stage with cat-like grace' etc? That all still holds true, and this show is better than their last one (which was also good) in the cramped confines of the Intrepid Fox. That gig was fun, but tonight the band have a bit more space to spread their (bat)wings and fly. When this band rock out it can get pretty intense.  AJ is again doing a good job standing in on bass duties while the revolving bassist door continues to rotate... This band is quite a mixture of styles and influences, both musically and stylistically - from the glam to the anti-glam - also with a male drummer in Belle who rivals the band's female singer on the glamour front! There is plenty of light and shade in the band's set - matching the name Lilygun which captures the contrasts - something pretty and also something which might kill you if you aren't careful! As well as the music being good, this is also an intriguing band to watch - newish guitarist James Ford has brought a much heavier and harder sound to the band, but also a very technical approach which demands your attention without seeming to have the usual ego such players tend to bring with them. Also, he uses very few effects pedals and relies instead on his varied technique - a player who might not look like a rock star but is genuinely interesting and lets the music do the talking. Ballet and classical music trained Anna Christina has good stage presence and manages to draw you into her world - well at least as far as she is willing to at this point in the band's career. Lilygun don't play as many gigs as they'd probably like to, so when they hit the stage Anna Christina in particular is determined to rock out as much as possible - the band are taking no prisoners tonight. As headliners the band get to play a longer set tonight, but it's still over all too soon. As the venue has a club night after the bands it's all finished by around 10.15. It's much too early to go home on a Saturday night, but with Newcastle Brown now at a record breaking £4.50 a bottle at the bar I'm out of here! I head off to the Witheredprunes pub round the corner which has varied and decent ales at nearly £2 a pint cheaper. Most of Lilygun andentourage turn up in due course, but I have to leg it soon after midnight if I'm to bus it to Finsbury Park in time for the last train. If TFL hadn't decided to shut the Northern Line for the weekend I'd have been able to get to High Barnet in time to catch my friends in The Haunting play their second set but that is not to be. As it is I get off the train a minute or so too late to catch last orders in my local instead so it's straight home for me - but at least it didn't take too long. Unlike the journey to the gig.