18/7/2015 Healthy Junkies, Hearts Under Fire, Hands Off Gretel, Stiletto Farm & PollyPikPocketz @ The Unicorn

Another Saturday night at The Unicorn in Camden; 5 bands, free admission, and drinks at pub prices - what's not to like? The first band was PollyPikPocketz.

This band with their double vocal attack, punky attitude and rocking grungy groove were a lot of fun!

Next up were Stiletto Farm - the only all male band of the night and not what I was expecting at all.

This was dirty rock 'n' roll with a heavy groove powering it along. Uncompromising and in your face - these guys play it like they mean it. If you like bands like Motörhead and The Almighty you'll probably like these guys too.

It's back to female fronted rock again as Yorkshire crew Hands Off Gretel take to the stage.

This band are fronted by a very Riot Grrrl influenced singer who demands your attention without being screechy and annoying. As with many of the bands at this monthly 'Rock N Roll Rendezvous' club there is a strong grunge influence. Like the previous bands this is another I'd definitely like to see again.

The female fronted theme continues with a band who are actually all girls, but southerners instead of the more usual northerners at this club. Hearts Under Fire deliver a more straight ahead punk rock sound, but with a slightly annoying singer - sometimes it's good to talk between songs, and sometimes it's not.

Hearts Under Fire definitely sound like the least tight and well rehearsed band of the night and probably should have been first on, but they are also the most original sounding act of the night..

Last but most definitely not least tonight are Healthy Junkies with their tuneful brand of punk/pop/grunge/glam rock driven along by a fantastic drummer.

This band just get better and better as they play all over London along with festival and tours further afield and into Europe. Not content with rehearsing and gigging a lot, they are constantly dropping new songs into their already two album strong repertoire. Album number three is in the pipeline...

Another great value for money night in Camden - it makes such a refreshing change not to feel you are being ripped off every time you go to the bar - it's things like this that keep you going back. Sorry about the poor picture quality; As it was actually decent summer weather for a change I decided to travel light and leave my jacket at home - meaning I had far less pockets to put things like cameras in. So I decided to try out the camera in my new phone instead - not a great success as you can see! Not only is the picture quality less than great under gig lighting conditions (maybe I need to experiment with the settings - it's great in daylight) but the new phone also a very slim, smooth and slippery shape - leading to it getting knocked flying at one point and hitting the deck - fortunately with no apparent damage. However, I don't want to risk getting it smashed as it's not as expendable as the cheapo £50 digicams I normally use - and I've already broken two of them at gigs. I can do without a camera easily enough, but having a working phone is more important.