18/7/2006 Shush, Motley Scrued & Guns 2 Roses

Subject	Shush, Motley Scrued & Guns 2 Roses
PostedDate	7/18/2006
	I was hoping to catch Vamps 'N' Gypsies at Bar Monsta as well as Shush at Pop tonight - unfortunately they both had stage times of 20.00 so that idea was a non-starter.  As I'd seen V&G last night and have seen them a lot more than Shush it was an easy enough decision head down to Soho Street to see Shush at Pop - a venue I'd never heard of before. The place certainly wasn't set up as a music venue - just a bar. There was no stage or anything and the PA didn't look up to much. The bar didn't have Newcastle Brown, or any other beer that wasn't lager - a pint of Kronenburg wasn't too outrageously priced for a west end venue though. Shush took to the stage (well where the stage would have been if there actually was one) and the feeble looking PA rather surprisingly proved to be up to the job - it needed to be fairly loud as once again ex-AntiProduct drum loon Simon 'Gonk' was pounding the skins. The band turned in a polished set of well crafted pop/rock songs which were well received by the (mainly seated) crowd. By around nine o'clock Shush had finished and another band who I wasn't that keen on was playing. It seemed a bit early to just go home - and what would I do with the rest of the evening at home? Waste it sitting in front of my computer on MySpace probably.  I decided not to take the 'sad bastard' option and headed for Camden instead - I may have missed Vamps 'N' Gypsies, but there were still a couple of other bands playing at Bar Monsta. Normally I avoid tribute bands like the plague, but I figured even that would be better than another night wasted at home on MySpace. It turned out I was right. Motley Scrued were actually quite decent. I'm not a massive Crue fan, but they have quite a few songs I like - and sure enough, nearly all of them got played tonight. The band also had a couple of not unattractive scantily clad female backing singers - which was the icing on the cake.  Guns 2 Roses were also quite good - maybe as good as mad Axl's current 'real' Guns 'N' Roses tribute band - and a lot cheaper! Also, this 'Axl' took to the stage on time and played through the whole set without walking off or throwing any 'rock star' prima-donna tantrums - this guy was more professional than the real Axl! He also made a pretty good job of 'being' Axl W Rose, from his appearance to his vocals and general stage presence. However, I spotted DJ Angel doing a better version of the 'Axl dance' than this imposter - and I reckon singer Nikki from Vamps 'N' Gypsies does it better as well!  I think the singer had the 'Axl look' pretty well nailed, although I think maybe his 'kilt' might be one of his mum's old tablecloths... 'Slash' gave a passable performance as well and overall this band were a closer representation of the band they played 'tribute' to than the previous act. Like the previous act, they played nearly all my favourite songs by the artists they emulate - although there are a lot more G'N'R songs I like than Motley Crue ones. Something else both tonight's tribute bands had in common was a shockingly bad wig!  In fact 'Steven Alder's' syrup looked horribly similar to one worn by a member of the previous band! To be fair, although I normally hate tribute bands I did quite enjoy these two and I thought they provided a good night's entertainment.  At least they are honest and totally up front about who they are trying to copy - unlike a lot of the other bands I have seen at this and other venues in Camden over the past few months...