11/10/2012 Cars Like Sharks, King Lizard & Roxville @ Nambucca

Subject	Cars Like Sharks, King Lizard & Roxville @ Nambucca
DateCreated	10/14/2012 5:59:00 PM
	A rainy Thursday night finds me heading down to Holloway Road to Nambucca. Only a fiver on the door to see 3 bands is a bargain - unlike the current bar prices so I give that a miss. First band tonight is Roxville.  This London band have been kicking around for several years but don't seem to have been very active for a while. They play well but their sound is pretty generic sub-G'N'R - I remember them being better than this two or three years ago. The singer wins the prize for 'Best Trousers' tonight though. Continuing in a G'N'R vein they throw in a cover by that band along with their own stuff. Finishing the set with a Cult cover doesn't give the impression they are that confident in their own materiel. Next up we have Cars Like Sharks who turn out to be the most original band of the night by far. Featuring ex-members of Cavilry, The Roolettes and Dirty Fingernails but sounding like none of these bands they triumph tonight by not sounding like G'N'R either! Cars Like Sharks also manage to provide the most dynamic show of the night and look like they are thoroughly enjoying themselves while doing it. This band continue to get better every time I see them and have the potential to become one of the best bands on London's dwindling club circuit. The band's influences appear to be 1970's rock and punk onwards, but unlike tonight's other bands there is something new and fresh about them. Tonight's headliners are infamous Camden sleazesters King Lizard. Having seen this band many times over the past few years by default as they have been on the same bill as other bands I like I have found them to be corny and derivative, but worringly I am starting to warm to them slightly now. I think this is because them don't take themselves as seriously as they used to - frontman Flash jokes about people moving to the front - worrying about them getting crushed due to the lack of barriers - but they are only playing to about 15 people and none of them are anywhere near the stage! The band have definitely improved in the last couple of years, not so much due to the change of rhythm section but the improvement in songwriting and a bit more light and shade - they even have a ballad now - unthinkable in the band's earlier days! There is a surprise later in the set when a special guest is announced - it's Travis from Cars Like Sharks. Apparently he was a rhythm guitarist with the band in their early days - which is news to me as I only ever remember seeing current six stringer Niro play guitar in King Lizard. A decent night at Nambucca but a shame it wasn't better attended, although tonight's miserable weather can't have helped. Surely only lightweight pretend music fans would be put off going to a gig by a little rain though?

PS: This venue closed in early 2014.