24/10/2010 Eyelids, Flying Over, and Mighty Atomics @ Buffalo Bar

Subject	Eyelids, Flying Over, and Mighty Atomics @ Buffalo Bar
PostedDate	10/24/2010
	After seeing great bands for only £6 on Thursday, then only a fiver on Friday and Saturday (see previous 2 blogs) you'd think value for money doesn't get much better than that? Wrong! Tonight I get to see 3 good rock 'n' roll bands at the Buffalo Bar in Islington for free!  It's a Dirty Water Club promotion and they are charging nothing on the door! So what's the snag? Well the bar downstairs is shit and only serves small bottles of lager at £3 a pop - effectively £6 a pint!  Other than that, there is no snag. On the plus side, as it's free admission you are free to come and go - so it's easy to nip upstairs between bands for a pint of real ale in the Famous Cock pub which is directly above.  I got served straight away every time so this worked out quite well.  I got to the venue a bit early for once and there was hardly anyone there when I arrived. However, it filled up nicely later on without getting too crowded. One interesting thing I noticed: As regular readers will know, I go to a lot of gigs at small venues like this to see underground rock 'n' roll bands - it's a thriving scene if you know where to go.  I tend to see a lot of the same people at these gigs - loads of people know each other and it's a really cool vibe.  However, I go to a similar venue tonight to see similar bands - and it's a completely different crowd. I don't recognise anyone there - which is very unusual. It's like there are two completely different 'scenes' running in parallel for the same music - very strange! First band on is the Eyelids. It's actually them who I am here to see, having seen them at the 12 Bar Club a couple of times - I've not heard of the other bands on tonight's bill. The Eyelids are good fun, and with three out of the four band members being girls it puts a different slant on their rockabilly influenced sound with Goth/horror lyrics. They had a good sound and are worth checking out if you see they are playing down your way. The next band is called Flying Over and they hail from France. A rock & roll band from France? Yes really. They are rather good too. The final band have also had to sail across the sea to get here - only it's the Irish Sea rather than the English Channel. The Mighty Atomics are from Dublin and look like a bit of an indie band - not very promising. However, as soon as they start playing they prove that appearances can be deceptive! They are no indie lightweights - this is an all-out rock 'n' roll band! And a very good one too.  Their style ranges from 50's style Chuck Berry influenced rock & roll, to surf rock instrumentals in the style of Dick Dale or Link Ray, to snotty Dr Feelgood R&B. These boys are good! So good in fact that I buy their album (only a fiver) straight after the show - it's rather good too! A good night of rock 'n' roll for next to nothing apart from my train fare and a few beers. Very easy to get to as it's literally next door to the station and I'm home in no time afterwards. Four cheap nights out in a row and I've seen nine excellent bands in cool little venues - I love living in London!