18/3/2010 The DeRellas @ The Gaff

Subject	The DeRellas @ The Gaff
PostedDate	3/18/2010
	I was planning (or at least hoping) to be able to go out to see Vanity Ink and New Generation Superstars at The Gaff on the evening of the day I moved into my new place. That proved to be rather optimistic - not surprising really. I was also (rather more realistically) planning to go and see Shush at The Gaff the following night - I didn't make that either. Sometimes so called 'real life' gets in the way of my preferred lifestyle and sorting out my new flat had to take priority over everything else - making somewhere decent to live is sort of important after all... So, nearly a week later and the dust has settled enough for me to start getting out and about again. After last weekend's two gigs I had to miss at The Gaff, the next one I am actually able to go to is at the same venue. I'm there to see The DeRellas, but the band on before them is actually pretty good too. Plastic Heroes are a sort of punky mixture of Flamin' Groovies and The Cars and well worth seeing. The DeRellas are good fun with their fired up brand of punk fuelled rock 'n' roll. There are plenty of bands out there who are great musicians, but fail to make a lasting impression - they are the acts who can play well, but don't really seem to have grasped what rock 'n' roll is actually about. I think most of you reading this know exactly what I mean.  Rock 'n' roll is supposed to be fun - it's not about how well you can play or what a serious 'artist' you are. You go to a rock 'n' roll gig to have a good time - not to admire how many guitar/singing lessons someone has had. Yes, being able to play well helps - but the best music comes from the heart. The DeRellas are decent enough musicians, but they have something more, something mere musical technique doesn't cover, something no amount of lessons can teach - the Derellas have spirit! The play with real passion. They believe in what they do - they mean it (man) and that is everything. The DeRellas are a proper rock 'n' roll band and if bands like that could bottle what they have they've be millionaires! The problem is that those bands out there who ought to buy those bottles don't even realise they need them.