12/4/2018 Last Great Dreamers @ The Black Heart

Thursday night finds me back at the Black Heart.  Tonight's opening act is ex-UK Subs/Dogs D'Amour/ Crybabys/Vibrators (and many other bands) guitarist Darrell Bath. Tonight Darrell is playing a solo electric set.

Darrell has a rich back catalogue of songs to pick from, both from the bands he's been in and also his own solo material. His guitar playing is something special and he has a knack for making it look totally effortless - it just seems to 'happen' as if by magic and the notes tumble from his fingers. He has a very natural feel for this raw blues and rootsy type material. I look forward to seeing him play with his own band again this summer...

A very good turnout in Camden on a 'school night' - great to see so many people that still go out mid-week to support the underground rock 'n' roll scene. I was very late discovering Last Great Dreamers and I still don't understand how such a great band went under my radar first time round in the early 1990's. In 2014 they returned. It's still less than a year since I first saw them - this being the third time since then. After hearing them a few times on Dave Rengade's show on Hard Rock Hell Radio I finally caught them live at last year's Camden Rocks Festival and was amazed as how good they were! Tonight they have yet another stand-in bassist - the more eagle eyed amongst you who have been long-term readers of my blog might recognise one-time Nikki Sixx/DeeDee Ramone lookalike Burty from another band from a few years ago, but he's more recently been a member of Tigertailz.

Things have moved on a bit since last year and now they have a brand new album '13th Floor Renegades' out tomorrow - this is the album release show.. As with their earlier releases, there are some cracking songs on there - these guys really know how to write a catchy pop/rock song - and then deliver it amazingly well live! Tonight's set is a mixture of old and new, with such unknown classics as 'Oblivion Kids', 'White Light Black Heart', 'Dope School', and tonight 'Ashtray Eyes' sounds particularly good.

Once again Last Great Dreamers deliver a fine set of really well written catchy pop/rock songs with immense confidence and swagger. I hope I won't have to wait until next year to see them again...

1/4/2018 Gabriella Jones @ The Black Heart

I'm starting to ease myself back into gig-going after the motorcycle/car crashes of the last few months and associated injuries and lack of disposable income. Managing to avoid being an April Fool (in my eyes at least) I head down to Camden and a venue I haven't been to for quite a while now. I'm at The Black Heart in Camden to see Gabriella Jones.

This singer/songwriter from Birmingham is not your typical singer/songwriter - she plays electric guitar instead of acoustic and fronts a rock band. Her promotional  posters display the quote "Could this be a future pop queen in our midst?", but I think this is doing her an injustice. Sure, she has the looks and vocal ability to be a 'pop star' - but there is more depth to her than that.

At one point in the set Gabriella puts down her guitar for a song or two and just sings - I guess this is where the "future pop queen" thing comes from, but she's soon strapped her Les Paul back on and is rocking again. This singer/songwriter seems far more influenced by Led Zeppelin riffs than folky acoustic songs - a refreshing change! She and her band finish their set with her single that Planet Rock have given daytime airplay to - 'Take Me To The Party'. I'm sure she's not short of invites! ;-) Talking of Planet Rock - the sharper eyed amongst you might recognise the drummer in the band? It's an interesting and entertaining show and Gabriella is happy to chat to people and sign stuff afterwards.

Next up are Samarkind. This lot are pretty much an unreconstructed 1970's style hard rock band - but there's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

They have a great sound and are excellent live performers - they look like they have spent years polishing their craft. Their singer has an excellent voice as well as being a very good frontman. The bass player looks like he really ought to be in Deep Purple, but is a good player and rivals the singer and lead guitarist for stage presence - unusual for a four stringer. This is definitely a band worth checking out if they head your way.

All in all a great value for money night out in Camden - under a tenner on the door to see two great bands.