22/6/2012 JOANovARC & The Velvetines @ The 100 Club

Subject	JOANovARC & The Velvetines @ The 100 Club
DateCreated	6/26/2012 2:39:00 PM
	Friday night finds me down at the 100 Club to see some girls that rock. The event is actually to promote the launch of the new Rock Band 3 game for X-Box 360.JOANovARC are one of the bands who have their music featured on it - the first all female band to ever be featured in the game. I was expecting the 100 Club to be pretty full for this event, but it's probably less than half full - so it looks like the game people haven't been very good at promoting this night. However, a few people are obviously here to see JOANovARC - I expect there would have been more if the band had still been gigging regularly to keep their profile up... I was a bit worried JOANovARC might be going a bit 'pop' and heading in a more commercial direction - I needn't have worried about them going soft - when these girls get on the stage they still know how to ROCK! I was expecting a lighter setlist of more pop orientated songs for this gig, but I'm pleased to report it was a full on rock set featuring a lot of old favourites like 'Live Rock & Roll' and 'Seeds Of Summer'. A couple of newer songs get an airing as well, including 'Say Sayonara' from the Rock Band game - which turns out to be much more rocking than I expected. I wasn't expecting a long set tonight as the band weren't headlining, but the girls played for over 40 minutes without slowing down or mellowing out at all - they still rock pretty hard when they get a chance and have lost none of their passion or excitment for playing live. As you might guess from the pictures, guitarist Shelly is quite a Hendrix fan as well as being well into her classic rock - and she can rip it up with the best of them. Her sister Sam is no slouch on bass and vocals either, and Debbie is only rivalled by Denise from Girlschool as far as powerful and aggressive girl drummers go. It's been great to see this band again - they used to be regulars on the London and Herts gig circuit and were building a bit of a following with their great live performances, but I've hardly seen them in the last couple of years. The 100 Club has more girls who rock to follow JOANovARC. I've not seen The Velvetines before, although I've seen their name on a few bills around town. I don't know how I haven't actually seen them until now, but they turn out to be rather good. Like JOANovARC the band features two sisters: Gina and Bernie on vox and guitar. The music has more of a punk/alt/grunge influence, but some 50's rock 'n' roll added to the mix. The Velvetines put on a lively show and Gina has plenty of stage presence as well as a good voice - I'll be looking out for this band again. It's only 10.30 when the last band finish and the evening's compare (who is a bit of a knobhead) announces "The bar is open for another 15 minutes so get smashed!" In 15 minutes? It's Friday night - who want's to go home from the West End before it's even eleven o'clock? Still, it's been good value for money - only £8 to get into a world famous club and see two good bands, and they have real ale on tap at under £4 a pint. OK, so the ale was only I.P.A. but it was still a lot better (and cheaper) than most London music venues. Shame there was only one of the two real ale pumps working, but that's one more than there often is at the 100 Club - the venue could try harder in this respect but at least they are making more effort - which is more than most London clubs.