22/9/2012 Gasoline Queens, Brijitte West + Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons on Saturday night

Subject	Gasoline Queens, Brijitte West, & Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons on Saturday night
DateCreated	9/24/2012 3:48:00 PM
	Another attempt at getting to two gigs in one night - it works sometimes. My first port of call is The Unicorn in Camden. It may not be in the 'cool' part of Camden, but it's always free to get in and the bar prices are probably cheaper than any other London music venue at the moment - Newcastle Brown @ £3 a bottle. The place used to be known as The Brecknock back in the day, then the Slug & Lettuce or something and now it's back to being The Unicorn like it was when one of my old bands played there regularly in the 90's - it hasn't changed much since. There are four bands on tonight - not bad for free! The first band was a female fronted outfit who sounded rather like Mudhoney - but their droning Seatle sound didn't do a lot for me and the vocals sounded a bit weak. Next up was the Gasoline Queens. This lot were far more of a rock 'n' roll band and really took things up a gear. They threw in a couple of covers (a rousing version of The Stones 'Dead Flowers' and Dogs D'Amour's 'Last Bandit') but their own songs along the same line are none too shabby either. This band seem to get better every time I see them and I think this was the best performance I've seen from them yet. You can't beat some good time rock 'n' roll and the Gasoline Queens really get into the spirit of it tonight. Next we get the welcome return of ex-New York Loose frontgal Brijitte West. The last couple of Desperate Hopefuls gig have been acoustic ones due to the band being 'between drummers', but fortunately this situation has been resolved and tonight we are treated to a full electric set. Regular readers may recognise members of Dead Identities and Kitty Hudson backing Brijitte up. It's great to see this band back firing on all cylinders and tonight they really rock! The songs are all from Brijitte's recent solo album and are more poppy and commercial sounding than her earlier NYC punk roots, but they certainly hit harder when played live and there are some good tunes in there. The band only play for about twenty minutes so it's over all too soon. 'Always leave 'em wanting more' as they say, and as no one paid to get in they can't complain about not getting value for money! Peckham Cowboys are due on next, but I have a prior engagement and have to rush off to Archway - only a short bus ride away. Due to things running late at the Unicorn I arrive at Dusk Til Dawn (formerly the Archway Tavern of Kinks fame) later than expected. Fortunatley things are running late here too and twenty minutes later than plannedPussycat & The Dirty Johnsons take to the stage. This lot are always good fun with their brand of dirty 50's styled rock 'n' roll with a bit of a punk influence - and some disco beats! The sound isn't too good in this venue tonight and inexsplicably the band are without their bass player - don't know what happened but I get the feeling he is no longer in the band rather than just absent. This doesn't stop the band from putting on a rocking and entertaining show though. There are one of two new songs played tonight as well as old favourites from their debut album 'Exercise Your Demons' - apparently a new album is just about to be recorded. The crowd turnout for this show is a little disappointing for a Saturday night - maybe because not many people are aware of this 'new' venue - most of Rachel Stamp seem to be propping up the bar though and the place continues as a club until three in the morning after the bands so maybe it filled up later....

This venue originally the famous Archway Tavern (re)reopened in early 2014 as the (new) new 'Intrepid Fox'. It will be interesting to see if it can re-establish itself in a new venue outside of the West End...