22/5/2006 Shush, Zen Motel, The Ruby Shoes, & Vamps 'N' Gypsies in Camden

Subject	Shush, Zen Motel, The Ruby Shoes, & Vamps 'N' Gypsies in Camden
PostedDate	5/22/2006 7:19:00 PM
	Yet another gig clash tonight!  Shush are playing at G-Lounge, and meanwhile Zen Motel are down the road at the Purple Turtle with Vamps 'N' Gypsies . I'm getting shades of deja-vu here. Virtually all my recent gig clash scenarios have involved these two venues, with the Underworld sometimes thrown in too. Shush are due onstage at 8.00 with Zen Motel due onstage a few minutes walk away at 8.30 - so with a following wind I should be able to catch at least half of Zen Motel's set. I meet a couple of the guys from Vamps 'N' Gypsies at G-Lounge around 8'ish and they tell me that things are running a bit late at the Purple Turtle - which is exactly what I want to hear!  However, by 8.30 Shush have still not taken to the stage at G-Lounge.  When Shush go on soon after they are pretty good - harder rocking than when I saw them at Soho Arts Centre earlier this year. They have some good tunes, and play them like they mean it.  Milena also has a rather cool new guitar; a Firebird - a proper Gibson one - none of your cheap Epiphone rubbish! (OK - I accept that Epiphonedo make some good guitars as well as some cheap & nasty ones. I'm just a bit of a guitar snob) Unfortunately, I have to leave early and miss The Clams who I've seen a couple of times before supporting other bands and was very impressed with. So by about ten past eight I've said my rushed goodbyes and am legging it off down the road (with Hanna & Wild Dan who are on the same mission as me) to the Purple Turtle - where things are indeed running a bit late, but not quite late enough. We arrive about halfway though Zen Motel's rocking set. As usual, they are damned good!  I'm certainly looking forward to getting their second album later in the year, the new stuff on their sampler CD sounds promising, and CJ Wildheart has contributed some guitar work as well.  Next up are The Ruby Shoes - not a great name for a rock 'n' roll band in my humble opinion.  However, they aren't a bad band - even if the bass playerlooks like he's in the wrong band.  On the other side of the stage there is a Nigel Mogg (Quireboys) lookalike on guitar who looks far more at home. as do the rest of the band. At first I think they sound just like AC/DC, but after a song or two I think they sound even more like Jet - which isn't that different really. Then they launch into a song that I think actually is a Jet cover! Still, they are good enough at what they do and I certainly wouldn't avoid them if I stumble across them on a bill with a band I like in the future. I'd have been happier if they went on before Zen Motel tonight though.  Headliners tonight are Vamps 'N' Gypsies, who in a short space of time have become one of my favourite live bands. With their uninhibited performances and mixture of AC/DC and Guns 'N' Roses influences they wear on their sleeves (although singer Nikki wears a Darkness patch on the sleeve of her leather jacket) I find their shows thoroughly entertaining!  Apart from enjoying their music even if it isn't very original, I think they have some important things that set them apart from the hundred other bands playing the same scene in Camden regularly - they have actually written some decent songs. Yes, 'songs' - those things most the other bands on the London glam/sleaze scene forgot about 'cos they were too busy worrying about how cool they look what a great show they are putting on to impress all the girlies. If that's all you want then go form a pop group instead and try and get on TV. If you can't write decent songs then you'll only ever be a big fish in a very small pond - big in Camden (but only to the glam/sleaze crowd) but unkown to anyone else. Maybe that's all these bands want?Most these bands take themselves way too seriously and are so far up their own arses it's difficult not to laugh at them sometimes. I'm sorry, but you are not a 'rock star' if all you do is play small pub and club gigs in Camden and the west end and no one apart from the crowd who go to Decadence/Rip 'N' Tear/Intrepid Fox, ect have ever heard of you. I'm not saying those bands shouldn't be doing what they are doing - I'm glad there is a healthy underground rock 'n' roll scene - I'm glad there are better things to do than sit at home in front of the TV or PC every night and I'm glad people like Mick Monsta, Glasswerks, Max, ect are giving all these bands the chance to play regular gigs. It's just that some of the bands need a bit of a 'reality check'. Sorry, my train of thought got derailed there - shoddy maintenance on the tracks since they got privatised. I was talking about Vamps 'N' Gypsies What I really like about them (apart from the songs and the obvious 'eye candy' attractions of their singer) is that although they go all out to put on a good rock 'n' roll show and be entertaining - they don't take themselves at all seriously and you can see that they are having a great time on stage without all the 'rock star bullshit' and ego stuff most other bands on the scene have happening. It also helps that they have some good songs, with actual tunes - and a singer who has a nice voice and actually uses it to sing instead of the tiresome and talentless grunting, growling or screaming I hear from most bands at the moment. Anyone can do that. These things make this band stand out for me - nearly all the other bands on this scene look and sound virtually identical and it gets tiring quite quickly.