| Subject | Honeykill, The Loyalties, Dangerfields & Richard Bacchus @ Bar Monsta |
| PostedDate | 3/24/2008 |
| Bar Monsta fills up nicely for a good bill tonight. Honeykill kick things off to a flying start - in fact new girl Alex sends two mic stands flying before the rest of the band have even got on stage!  As an added incentive to get there early and also celebrate the Easter weekend the band have the Bunnykill girls handing out free Easter eggs - free chocolate has to be the next best thing to free beer! 
As if hot girls handing out free chocolate isn’t enough, we get an excellent band to start tonight’s show!
In spite of being handicapped by the venue’s increasingly dilapidated PA and the complete absence of stage monitors, Honeykill turn in what is probably the night’s most exciting and energetic set.
This band have some catchy songs, but unfortunately you can’t hear the vocals at all for the first song or two - things don’t get much better and I’ve never heard this band get such an awful sound mix. 
It’s a shame as this band deserve much better, and have taken their onstage energy level up a gear with the addition of ex-Suffrajets frontgirl Alex, here playing only her second gig with Honeykill.
Next up are The Loyalties. The sound mix is noticeably better for this band, but it’s still not good. 
Like the previous band, they struggle with the Mickey Mouse PA, but as they have less members and are more of a punk band they don’t suffer as much as Honeykill.
The band are starting to build up a following of their own, but their fanbase still largely consists of Yo-Yo’s fans as The Loyalties rose from the ashes when that band imploded.
The Loyalties are effectively a new band with all new songs, but they do sound a lot like the much missed Yo-Yo’s. Tom Spencer even looks uncanilly like Danny McCormack at times - particularly now he has switched from guitar to bass duties. He even plays a ’Precision’ bass, although it’s not a yellow one. 
There’s also a treat for Yo-Yo’s fans at the end of the set when the Loyalties throw in a cover of ’Stockholm Sick Blues’. 
The punk rock attitude is carried on by The Dangerfields, although with a noticeable AC/DC influence added to the mix - particularly noticable on their song ’Rock Club’. 
This band have less problems to contend with in the sound mix as there are only three people in the band.
This lot are a load of fun, although I think they suffer quite a bit from having their drummer also providing lead vocals - not an arrangement that I think works well in any band. 
That said, bassist Jamie and guitarist Jasper do make an excellent job of providing a good ’rock show’.
Unfortunately, there is internal strife in the band, and although it’s not visible during the band’s perfomance this leads to the departure of Jasper from the band immediately after this gig - leaving the Dangerfields place on the remaining dates of the tour in doubt...
The ’headliners’ of this show end up playing to less people than the previous bands. To be honest, the people who left earlier didn’t miss much. Richard Bacchus & The Luckiest Girls only had one rehearsal before this tour started - and it shows.
Things get off to a shaky start with Richard having an out of tune guitar - so why wasn’t it properly tuned before starting the show? It’s not rocket science. 
Apparently, this band’s performances on the tour have been very hit and miss. Tonight is definitely a ’miss’ and I feel sorry for ’hired hands’ Rob Lane (bass) and Jamie Derelict (guitar, but also seen playing bass in tonight’s previous band) who both normally play in the excellent Teenage Casket Company.
They are easily the best thing about this band and are the only thing holding it together. The performance is shambolic and the frontman ex-D-Generation guitarist and NYC ’rock star’ just doesn’t seem bothered. His guitar is out of tune for much of the set, but he doesn’t seem concerned.
Rob and Jamie play well and do their best to give a good show and look professional, but look almost embarrassed to be taking part in this performance. Richard Bacchus just seems to take his audience (which isn’t that many) for granted and behaves like a kid messing about and showing off to his mates at a local show. This act should have gone on first instead of being the ’headline’ act - they simply aren’t worthy. Maybe the ’star’ of the show decided it wasn’t worth bothering giving a proper performance because the PA was so ropey and the place wasn’t that full, but the previous bands made the effort so why couldn’t he?
It’s an anti-climax to what has otherwise (sound problems apart) been a good bill and excellent value for money at only a fiver. Well done Nix!
PS: I hear that the Richard Bacchus & The Luckiest Girls set the following night was ten times better! |
PS: Bar Monsta went downhill and became the truly awful 'Camden Rock' venue -
not to be confused with the excellent festival with a similar name.
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