23/10/2008 Zen Motel, Disarm & Adam Bomb @ Paradise City

Subject	Zen Motel, Disarm & Adam Bomb @ Paradise City
PostedDate	10/23/2008
	I'm at Soho sleazepit Madame JoJo's for the monthly Paradise City club. I'll get the venue rant out of the way first: The bar here is shit - not only is it overpriced, but they don't even stock anything that I actually want to drink.  Then there is the gents toilet - it wouldn't matter so much that it's tiny if you didn't trip over one of those creepy and annoying toilet attendants as you go through the door.  No one likes these fuckers and they aren't appropriate for a rock club.  The door charge is a bit steep too - I could see a similar bill at Bar Monsta or the Purple Turtle for quite a bit less. That said, apart from those (easily remedied)  points this isn't a bad venue at all. The ever rocking Zen Motel are on first. But hey, what's this? It's Zen Motel Jim, but not as we know it. Now there are five of them! I can remember when there were only three people in the band. A new bass player has been added to the band, leaving Lee to sing lead vocals without a guitar in his hands. It seems a bit weird at first, but not in a bad way. The new guy Dan seems to know what he's doing though and is a dynamic performer. It takes a bit of getting used to seeing the band like this, but Lee seems to adapt well and by the end of the show he looks like he's enjoying himself! Apparently the reason for the changes in the lineup is that Alex the lead guitarist is moving to Brighton so won't be available for a lot of the gigs from now on. Tonight's show with Lee on just vocals is a bit of an experiment to try out the flexibility of the new lineup and from now on Lee will usually be on guitar instead of bass. The future is looking interesting for this band.  Next up we have the Mexborough Marauders Disarm. They never fail to deliver the goods. This band have appeared on the London club scene quite a few times recently and continue to get better every time I see them. These northern noise merchants seem to have declared war on drumkits tonight - not content with destroying a drum skin earlier, bassist Noddy manages to stop the show by falling into the drumkit towards the end of the set. He protests that he's not even drunk for once! After Disarm we get Dear Superstar. This lot seem quite an anti-climax after the previous two bands and don't sound anything like as tight and together. Last act of the night is Adam Bomb. I was less than impressed the previous time I saw this lot when they supported Hanoi Rocks at the Electric Ballroom - I didn't think they lived up to the hype at all on that occasion and the guitarist's fretboard skills seemed average at best and were overshadowed by all the pyro and lights. Tonight I think he plays far better and I find the show quite entertaining, although he relies more on dazzling people with flash technique than actual technical excellence. It would have been more impressive for a 'headline' act if they didn't rely so heavily on all the covers in the set - I have heard bands in pubs do far more convincing versions of AC/DC songs, and the Bullet Boys take on 'Riff Raff' leaves Adam Bomb for dead.  Unfortunately I had to leave before the end of the set - as did many other people.  I think the night could have been better planned - a lot of people had already left  at 12.15 when I headed off to catch my last tube. Having midweek shows finish so late is not a good thing as most people have last trains to catch and have  to be up early for work in the morning.  Other London venues manage to put four bands on midweek and have the last band finish well before midnight... I was looking forward to seeing the much vaunted M.O.B. girls perform. I assumed beforehand that they would be performing in the intervals between bands, but when I left after midnight there was still no sign of them.  There can't have been many people still left in the club by whatever time they eventually strutted onto the stage...