19/8/2007 Dead Seed @ the Old King's Head

Subject	Dead Seed @ the Old King’s Head
PostedDate	8/19/2007
	After a busy few days going to various gigs in London and Ipswich I just felt like relaxing with something a bit less demmanding like a cover band. Nothing on worth seeing locally as usual these days, so a short trip on the tube found me back at the Old King's Head - somewhere I seem to have been quite a lot recently.  Dead Seed were already playing as I arrived. I've seen this band a few times before at the World's End in Camden, but this was the first time I've seen them play at their new regular venue. It was certainly quite different from seeing them in Camden, but better in some ways. It's easier and cheaper for me to get to for a start, and it was nice not to have to constantly fend off drunken chav-metal kids who were barging into people and pissing everyone off. The new location, plus the £3 door charge (it was free at the World's End) have kept out the casual 'weekend rockers' - but unfortunatley it's also kept quite a few of the genuine rock crowd away as well. It's a shame that people don't want to go anywhere that isn't 'Camden' as it's percieved by some as being the only 'cool' place to go - especially as Holloway Road is only a mile or so away. The band have a small but loyal following who have made the effort to travel that extra mile, and they are rewarded with a good set of rock and metal classics - the emphasis definitely being on the metal.  The setlist is pretty similar to the other two hard rock covers bands that can regularly be found in Camden on a Sunday, although a bit heavier overall with more leanings in the Priest and Metallica direction as well as AC/DC - it was nice to hear 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' and 'Seek & Destroy' for a change as well as the almost compulsory 'Enter Sandman'. The standard of musicianship was good, although Pat the singer did tend to sing every song as if he was doing a Phil Anselmo impression - which I found a bit wearing personally. Fortunately, he didn't impersonate the metal redneck in any other ways apart from vocally - and his attire. Pat also fronts a Pantera tribute and seems to carry his stage persona from that band over to Dead Seed. He is actually a lively frontman and works hard to get the crowd going, but I think more proper actual singing as opposed to screaming would do this band's set more justice. Hearing some of my favourite rock classics while enjoying a few beers was a nice way to wind down at the end of the weekend.

PS: This pub became 'The Gaff' and was a really cool venue for a couple of years before closing to become a shortlived Costa coffee joint.