22/1/2009 Cherry Brakewells & Shush @ The Water Rats

Subject	Cherry Brakewells & Shush @ The Water Rats
PostedDate	1/22/2009
	I've been really looking forward to this one - a couple of my favourite bands at a venue that's nice and easy to get to.  The Water Rats has certainly gone downhill as a venue. It used to serve real ales, which is unusual at music venues in London - but the current management can't be bothered. Instead we get loads of different types of lager.  There's no Newcastle Brown and the Guinness is off so I reluctantly decide to try a pint of Leffe - until I am told it's £6 a pint!  Can any beer be that good? It looks like another gig where I won't be drinking much... Due to visiting my dad in hospital earlier I can't get to the gig until five past nine and miss the first couple of songs in the Cherry Brakewells set.  Monique the bassist tells me later that it was just as well I missed the first part of their show - there were some technical problems and things didn't go very well.  As I open the doors to the back room the bands play in I find it's full! I certainly wasn't expecting this on a damp Thursday night. It means the Cherry Brakewells get to perform to the biggest crowd I've seen them play to yet - which is certainly what they deserve.  The sound is quite good, although it's very loud at the front and verging on the pain threshold.  I don't know what went on at the beginning of their set, but by the time I get there they are sounding great!  I can see that quite a few people have turned up to see the band at this show, and as usual it looks like they are winning a lot of new people over as well. I thoroughly enjoy the Cherry Brakewells set, and it's all over far too soon. Shush have been a good band since I first saw them a couple of years or so ago, and they have continued to get even better in spite of various lineup changes. The band have had several drummers, but they have recently got the best one back again. Ex-AntiProduct drummer Simon plays hard and fast, and really adds a lot of power to the band so his return is very welcome! Shush are basically a pop/rock outfit with some catchy tunes, but tonight they seem to be rocking harder than usual.  Some heavy and powerful riffing backs up Milena's sugar sweet vocals - it's a very effective combination! Some new songs are starting to appear now alongside the more familar ones from the band's excellent EP. The only cover in the set is Blondie's 'Call Me', and this goes down a storm as usual.  As I said earlier, this small pub venue has gone noticeably downhill.  Apart from my issues with the bar, the other bugbear is the toilet. The gents used to be one of the worst and stunk as bad as the ones at the Underworld. It's now got even worse and could well be the worst smelling toilet in London. The only good thing is there is no toilet attendant - it's so disgusting down there that they probably refused to work there! The bar appears to still be serving well after the bands finish, so I brave the foul stench and head downstairs to make room for some more beer. When I get back from the toilet I find they have shut the bar! It's not long after that before the security guys start thowing us out - not the best end to the evening - it's nearly as bad as the Underworld!