17/4/2006 Kitty Hudson, Vamps 'N' Gypsies & Johnny Panic in Camden.

Subject	Kitty Hudson, Vamps 'N' Gypsies & Johnny Panic in Camden.
PostedDate	4/17/2006 1:01:00 PM
	Two gigs in one night again. The first event was the MMM2Fest (or something) at the Oh! Bar in Camden featuring around eight bands - one of whom failed to turn up. Doors were at 2.45 but I couldn't make it that early and missed the first two or three bands. Kitty Hudson were one of the bands I particularly wanted to see and I arrived a few minutes before they took to the stage. Well I say 'stage', but there wasn't one really. I was expecting a bill of bands like this to get a reasonable turnout from the underground rock 'n' roll crowd on a Bank Holiday, but there were only a handful of people there - and most of those were members of the various bands and their friends.  Kitty Hudson played a good (if slightly short) set introducing some songs from their new album, as well as some old favourites from '3 Chords And The Truth'. New one 'Hup 234' was instantly memorable. The sound mix from the very basic PA left a bit to be desired, and some techical problems with the bass amp led to the bassist abandoning his instrument half way though the final song after having problems earlier in the set. Apart from that, it was an enjoyable set as always from this band.  Head Rush were on next. I saw a band with a similar name in St Albans last year and they were very good - unfortunately this wasn't that band. I have also read good things about a band with the same name in the excellent Bubblegum Slut fanzine - I also doubt this was the same band. This lot were more like NWOBHM with extra widdly bits. They seemed to be good musicians individually but together they all seemed to have their own agendas. They put some effort in giving a good perfomance, but they all seemed to be in little worlds of their own - there only seemed to be two or three songs where it all started to come together and they seemed like a proper band. There was a change in the advertised lineup next and instead of Vamps 'N' Gypsies we got two guys who seemed like an older version of Winnebago Deal. They got quite a good meaty sound with just guitar/vox and drums and the guitarist made use of his radio system by running from the back to the front of the venue once or twice - but unfortunatley there was hardly anyone there to witness the specatacle. Next was the other main band I was there to see. Vamps 'N' Gypsies pulled out all the stops to give us a full on ROCK show.  Fortunately, a few more people had turned up by this point, although attendance was still pretty poor. Those who didn't bother to attend missed some excellent entertainment as the band cranked out their AC/DC meets G'N'R style rock 'n' roll - poses were pulled and shapes were thrown, but unlike their recent Purple Turtle gig all the band members remained floor bound - the bar was a bit to far out of the range of their guitar leads this time. Vocallist Nikki looked pretty hot, but unfortunately her voice was largely lost in the weedy P.A. mix.  By the time Vamps 'N' Gypsies finished their set things were running rather later than planned and I had to leg it up the road to catch Johnny Panic at Dingwalls/Lock 17. There was a reasonable amount of people in this venue, but apparently not that many people to see Johnny Panic. They certainly had plenty more people down at the front than all the people contained in the Oh! Bar though, but not many considering that they sold out the Barfly a few months ago. Although this venue has a much bigger and better P.A. than the puny one in the Oh! Bar - the sound was shite!  If I go to see a guitar band - I like to actually be able to hear the guitars!  Things did improve later in the set though. The band featured new material prominently and I didn't enjoy it as much as their show at the Barfly a few months ago as I wasn't as familiar with their new songs. That aside, the band turned in a good performance and the new boy on bass seems to be fitting in well. This is a band who always play well, but maybe struggle a little to be taken as seriously as their songs deserve due to the 'pop group' crowd they pull which seems to consist mainly of teenage girls. It's a shame, as their album 'The Violent Dazzling' is actually packed full of very strong songs - both musically and lyrically. When Johnny Panic finished their set I rushed back down the road to catch the last band at the Oh! Bar. I'd seen Hyenas a few months ago at G-Lounge and been impressed by their charismatic frontwoman Izzy. She's changed her hair and image completely since then, and I didn't even recognise her beforehand. The band were sounding good as they cranked out the rock 'n' roll and things were looking good, but unfortunately I had to leave a few minutes into their set to catch the last tube...

PS: The Oh! Bar in Camden is now the Blues Kitchen.