26/10/2015 Desperate Journalist & The Ooh Mao Mao's @ Some Weird Sin club

After seeing The Wildhearts last night anything else is likely to be an anti-climax, but this looks like an interesting event as well as being easy and cheap to get to. The excellent Some Weird Sin club has been leading a nomadic existence since the closure of it's regular venue Buffalo Bar in Highbury earlier this year. Events have been held at various other venues - the last one being at The Lexington in Pentonville Road. That one was quite a success - see one of my other recent blog posts. This month sees the club happening down in Green Lanes at The Finsbury. The venue is a pub almost right next to Manor House tube and directly opposite Finsbury Park itself - the actual park that is - not the station. It suits me well - as I mentioned - it's very easy and cheap to get to on the Piccadilly Line.

I've only been to this venue once before (to see JJ Rosa - see another old blog post) - that was about two years ago shortly after it had been refurbished. It has just been refurbished again and there have been some noticeable changes; the stage has been moved to the opposite side of the back room, and I get the impression the room itself is smaller. The layout seems to work well enough though. One change which isn't so good is the ale prices! On my last visit I was pleasantly surprised to find a variety of real ales on tap, and at reasonable prices. The prices are no longer reasonable and all the ales on offer are rather on the week side - a pint of not very strong Doombar is well over £4. There is no justiification for this - over the past two or three years the price of a pint at certain venues has gone up at several times the rate of my wages. Unfortunately there isn't a Wetherspoons close to this venue, and I certainly won't be spending much of my hard earned at the bar at the prices they are charging. As no one else seems to be drinking the real ales maybe I'm not the only one who thinks they are really overpriced?

Oh yes - the music...

The Ooh Mao Mao's are playing when I arrive. An Anglo-American band making their London debut tonight.

They play dirty sounding punky rock 'n' roll - dark and slightly menacing. Their American accented singer has more than a touch of Morticia Addams about her, although with a much shorter skirt! She has very good stage presence and looks like she owns it. The band have a more US sound overall and are certainly worth checking out.

I didn't bother taking many pictures - the venue has a smoke machine. This is fine for adding some 'atmosphere', but shit for photography as the auto-focus on my camera can't focus through the haze.

Tonight's 'Secret headline band' are playing under the name 'Sad Hack'. Actually they are called Desperate Journalist. The name means nothing to me to be honest so I don't know why they are going to the trouble of playing under another name. There are some people here who do seem to know them though, and I recognise at least two members of the band as being Some Weird Sin club regulars -including an ex-member of Johnny Cola & The A-Grades who also DJ's at this club!

Described as "intense and shimmering post-punk" they seem to take some time to get into their stride. It seems a bit shoegazey to me but they play well. There doesn't seem to be anything memorable as far as the actual songs go for most of their set....

It's not until the last couple of songs in their set that they really seem to get going, but they do manage to impress me with the intensity of those final two songs. If only they could harness what they captured then for the rest of their set. Still, I guess it's still early days for this band and I expect they will pop up at this club again - it will be interesting to see them in a year or so's time...

After the bands have finished the DJs take over to take things into the small hours. I have to say the music they play is really good! It's a very cool mixture of everything from classic 1950's rock & roll (which always get's people dancing!) to Beatles and Stones classics, 1970's UK Glam Rock and punk, to the more up to date indie rock stuff - with the emphasis being very much on bands that do actually rock. After not looking that busy when I arrived earlier (probably because there were so many people sitting outside) the club has filled up nicely later on and the dancefloor is looking lively!

Oh yes - there were free shots on offer later as well! It was certainly a good night out and (ale prices/strength apart) I would be quite happy if this venue became the regular home for the Some Weird Sin club. The club is back at the same venue in October, and with a rather good bill as well...