4/11/2010 Pussycat and the Dirty Johnsons @ the Karamel Club

Subject	Pussycat and the Dirty Johnsons @ the Karamel Club
PostedDate	11/4/2010
	A bit of a change of scene - a night of rock 'n' roll in Wood Green. Yes, Wood Green! It's many years since I've been to a gig in this area - there just aren't any rock venues. The last (and only) gig I can ever remember going to in Wood Green was Beki & The Bombshells back in the day at the infamous nightcub Fagin's - long since closed. However, it has come to my attention that tonight Pussycat And The Dirty Johnsons are playing at the Karamel Club - a venue no one has heard of. Until now. Further investigation reveals the club is actually in a road I used to park in when I used to go shopping in Wood Green years ago - before the council brought in parking restrictions and prompted me to shop elsewhere.  It's also only a few minutes walk from both the tube, and the BR stations so it's a doddle to get to - only an 8 minute train ride for me.  I arrive at the venue and as I walk in I immediately get a strong sense of deja-vu. I'm sure I've been here before, but it must have been many years ago - maybe some family related event rather than a gig? Apparently the building used to be a chocolate factory. I remember back when I was at school we were once promised a school trip to the Barrats sweet factory in Wood Green. Naturally, us kids were very excited about this - and wondered about 'Free samples' and so on.  Unfortunately the trip never happened for one reason or another, but here I am probably in the same building all these years later. No sign of any sweets or chocolate unfortunately, but there is a bar! This doesn't look very promising - no real ale, or bottles of Newcastle Brown. However, they do have bottles of Marston's Pedrigree at a reasonable price and this turns out to be very acceptable!  The first band was The Cinders, but they finished just as I arrived. Next up was The Crushers. They turn out to be a fairly decent 3 piece rock 'n' roll band. Their songs are nothing special, although they play well enough. The sound in this large empty room is terrible though.  The PA is rather small, although loud enough - but the acoustics of the room are awful!  This is the worst sound I've heard for a very long time - the vocals in particular being just a muddy mess. Even then the singer talks between songs it's impossible to understand a word he says.  Fortunately, the sound quality seems to have improved a bit for the band three of us have turned up to see. I think this show by Pussycat And The Dirty Johnsons was always going to be a bit of an anti-climax after the excitement of their Halloween gig in Camden, but they give it their best shot. Keep fit with Pussycat! The room on this Thursday night in Wood Green wasn't very full so the atmosphere was lacking somewhat, but those who were present were definitely rock 'n' roll people and there was the odd outbreak of dancing. The modest crowd, which appeared to consist mainly of the other bands and their friends seemed to enjoy this band's set. To their credit, the band put as much into this performance for a few people as they did into their much better attended show at Tommy Flynn's on Halloween, and the bass player wasn't content just to get off the stage and play a song from the floor - he ended up standing on the bar. The last band of the evening was Los Explosivos. You may think these boys look a lot like the MC5. Guess what? They sound a lot like the MC5 as well! Maybe not the best songs of any band on tonight's bill, but probably the most dynamic and exciting performance. These boys certainly know how to kick out the jams! So all in all it was well worth a trip to Wood Green on a Thursday night. The venue was quick, easy and cheap to get to. It was probably the nearest any of us get to a 'local' rock gig in North London. Only £5 on the door for 4 proper rock 'n' roll bands - bargain! Decent bar as well - even if the Karamel Club isn't really a 'rock' venue - I'd certainly go there again is any band I like is playing there.