19/12/2008 L.A.M.F. UK @ The 12 Bar Club

Subject	L.A.M.F. UK @ The 12 Bar Club
PostedDate	12/19/2008
	It's Friday night and I'm off to the 12 Bar Club. I'm there to see L.A.M.F. UK - just the name of the band will tell most of you exactly what to expect. I've been to 2 or 3 so called Johnny Thunders 'tribute' gigs, and they have all been a real let down - the name of a legend being used just to get a few punters through the door to see a bunch of bands who've been more LAME than L.A.M.F.  Tonight isn't a Thunders tribute night, just a tribute band to the man playing on a normal Friday night at this most intimate of West End clubs. L.A.M.F. UK do exactly what it says on the tin. They don't go out of their way to look like the Heartbreakers, they just play the songs in the style they should be played and make a pretty good job of it. There's only one guitarist tonight, although the band do often play with a 'Walter Lure' as well as a 'Johnny'. If you are a Quireboys fan you might think 'Billy Rath' looks familiar... Yes, it's Paul Guerin the Quireboys six stringer moonlighting on bass duties. I assume he's just standing in on this occasion as he doesn't know the bassline on the solo part of 'Pirate Love'. Most the Thunders classics you'd expect get an airing, including the inevitable 'Chinese Rocks'. I'm a little surprised 'Get Off The Phone' doesn't get played, although to be fair they didn't get time to play the entire 'L.A.M.F.' album. It was a solid and enjoyable performance overall though, and played by a band who seemed to have a genuine love of the music rather than doing it purely for the money like most tribute bands. Certainly worth going to see again sometime.