10/8/2008 - Part 1. Dead Monroe & Peep Show @ the Bull & Gate

Subject	Dead Monroe & Peep Show @ the Bull & Gate
PostedDate	8/10/2008
	A mixed night at the Bull & Gate, both in the style and quality of the bands. Dead Monroe are on first of the three band bill. This lot are a quality act, both in terms of musicianship, and particularly the almost lost art of songwriting. At this gig they are augmented for the first time with an extra member - no, not anything which straps on or requires surgery! The band now features a keyboard player. This certainly helps fill out the sound and gives them a more commercial edge. The new sound seems to be appreciated by the audience - a bigger crowd than they normally get to play to which is good.  The next band is Peep Show. They are from Scotland, but that's not their fault - everything else is though. They manage to sum up everything which is tired, cliched, old, and just bad about sleaze rock bands. They are competant enough musicians, but that doesn't count for shit unless you have decent songs and/or at least some originality. The singer seems to want to be in Towers Of London and rips off Donny's bit where he chucks the mic stand into the crowd - only there is no one down at the front and it lands on the floor. Then some silly sod hands it back to him - so he goes and does it again. It didn't work the first time mate... I won't even bother trying to describe what Peep Show sound like - just look at the pictures. They sound exactly like you would expect a band like that to sound. To be fair, they do have a good song called 'The Stand' - but it sounds so familiar I'd have sworn it was a cover. Maybe in their part of Scotland this sort of stuff seems exciting and original, but there must be a hundred bands who look and sound just like this in London. As for the headline band - you'll have to read my next blog...

PS: The Bull & Gate closed as a music venue in 2013.