20/4/2012 Evil Scarecrow @ Nambucca

Subject	Evil Scarecrow @ Nambucca
DateCreated	4/23/2012 2:37:00 PM
	20/4/2012 Back down to Holloway Road again. I seem to be here quite a bit recently - like a couple of years or so ago but at a different venue... Tonight I'm at Nambucca to see Evil Scarecrow. "Introducing the scariest thing to come out of Nottingham since Torvill and Dean..." No smoke machine tonight I'm pleased to say, but the place is fairly full this Friday night so I still didn't get any good pictures. Some furious headbanging ensues down at the front. It's three years since this band have played in London. It's a shame they don't get down to The Smoke very often 'cos they are a brilliantly entertaining band! This is all the more remarkable as their musical style is one which isn't usually a barrel of laughs. Not everybody will 'get' this band - basically what they do is take some genres of rock music which take themselves very seriously, and treat them less than seriously. In fact they totally rip the piss out of Goth/death/thrash rock and the 'scenes' that surround them. The standard of musicianship is high, and is matched by the quality of some of their song titles: How can you not like a song called 'Vampyre Trousers', 'Blacken The Everythingthing' or 'Robototron'? Audience participation is a big part of the band's show - particularly with the Robot Dance associated with the later song! Metallica are an obvious musical influence, and I think The Darkness are in there too with 'Hell Dog' 'Morbid Witch' is another doom-laden peal of rock thunder. True Goths would no doubt be shocked at the lack of respect shown for their genre - people are actually allowing themselves to smile in spite of frequently being encouraged to 'sob'. The crowd are even daring to enjoy themselves - call the Fun Police immediately! Evil Scarecrow have put the biggest grin on my face that I've had at a gig in a long time. Unfortunately the fun is over all too soon - as the band took to the stage 20 minutes late I have to leave just before the end to catch my train - it's an hour til the next one. I'm heading back down Holloway Road as the band launch into their last song - a death metal version of Europe's classic 'The Final Countdown'. I hope it's not another three years before Evil Scarecrow visit London again...

PS: This venue closed in early 2014.