12/7/2012 Bermondsey Joyriders & Taurus Trakker @ The Rhythm Factory

Subject	Bermondsey Joyriders & Taurus Trakker @ The Rhythm Factory
DateCreated	7/16/2012 2:55:00 PM
	Thursday night finds me heading down to the East End - Whitechapel to be precise. It's a while since I've been to the Rhythm Factory, but little has changed apart form the bar prices - which although not cheap are still better than London's corporate venues. Still, it's not a bad little venue. £8 on the door to see several bands, although I only get to see a couple of them. First up is Taurus Trakker. This is the first time I've seen this lot and it's takes a few songs for them to win me over with their bluesy brand of alt-rock. Things start to take off when they bring on a sax player.  The second half of their set seems livelier and I start to get more into it - worth seeing again I think. The Bermondsey Joyriders need no introduction to my regular readers.  This bunch have a strong punk rock pedigree going back many years and are currently one of the best 'proper' rock 'n' roll bands in ol' London Town. As well as being excellent musicians in their own right, quite a lot of thought has obviously gone into both the way the band look, and the whole concept behind their second album 'Noise And Revolution'. Veteran rock writer Charles Shaar Murray is taking the place of ex-White Panther and MC5 manager John Sinclair again at this gig, and recites some of the poetry from the album between songs, and well as blowing a mean harp on one or two songs. It's an enjoyable show and the setlist also includes a few welcome crowd pleasers from the band's eponymous debut album like 'Football' and 'Who Are Ya'. I'm glad the band have brought some of their earlier songs back recently after spending about a year just playing songs to promote the second album - not that I don't like those songs too, but I appreciate the band changing things round a bit so we don't get the same songs every time. It's all good. Well worth a midweek trip out on a damp and dismal 'summer' night!