13/2/2013 Raining Cats & Dogs in Camden

Subject	Raining Cats & Dogs in Camden
DateCreated	2/21/2013 2:42:00 PM
	Wednesday night finds me heading down to Camden - train late so not much time for a quick livener in the BrewDog pub. In fact there isn't time for a crafty beer in there at all as there only seems to be one person behind the bar and she is busy doing something with her back to the punters - I have a quick piss and she's still busy so I'm out of there.... No Old Rosie on tap at the Dublin Castle tonight, but they have a Westons organic cider also at 7.3% which is a very acceptable substitute. Anyway, I haven't come all the way to Camden just to go on the piss. No really - I haven't! There is rather a good pair of female fronted bands at the Dublin Castle tonight as part of the tour they are on. First on are the rather excellent Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons. The band still seem to be 'between bass players' but they aren't letting this hold them back. Their second album of dirty rock 'n' roll (cunningly entitled 'Dirty Rock 'N' Roll) is just out and on sale tonight. It features double bass from Phil Polecat on a couple of songs, although he doesn't appear at the gigs. Some of the songs on the new album will already be familiar to anyone who has seen the band live in the last six months. Pussycat & Co turn in a great show as usual - plenty of in your face attitude and punky 50's inspired rockabilly songs, but with a heavier guitar sound courtesy of Jake. Ant's drumming really powers things along and adds variety - with even some supercharged disco beats being thrown in! It's great to see this midweek gig so well attended - much better than many Friday or Saturday night shows in Camden. I can't remember the last time I saw the Dublin Castle so busy and it's really encouraging to see this band playing to a nearly full venue for a change. Next up are The Dogbones. This Queen Adreena offshoot started with a ready-made following so they always get some loyal fans at their gigs - tonight they find themselves playing to a bigger crowd than usual due to the previous band bringing their own crowd too. The Dogbones always put on an entertaining show - plenty happening on stage and two drummers driving things along. The band are tighter these days and some of the chaos of their past gigs is missing tonight - which may or may not be a good thing depending on your point of view. There is less glam and more punk and grunge influence than Queen Adreena ever had. In fact I think there is more Queen Adreena influence in Pussycat & The Dirty Johnsons than in The Dogbones now - vocally at least. As far as atmosphere and crowd attendance goes, this is the best midweek gig I've been to in a long time, and at a decent venue with a good bar too. I hope the other gigs on the tour have gone as well as this one for the bands It was an excellent night, and even though I probably had one drink too many (even without BrewDog) I still managed to get home fairly quickly instead of missing the last tube like I normally do after going to the Dublin Castle!