20/4/2013 Evil Scarecrow @ The Boston Arms Music Room

Subject	Evil Scarecrow @ The Boston Arms Music Room
DateCreated	5/7/2013 3:31:00 PM
	Saturday night finds me heading down to Tufnell Park to see a band who don't often make it down to the smoke from their native Nottingham. Unfortunately I (and quite a few other people) had to miss them last time in London at another venue because they were on at stupid o'clock and there were no trains home. It's not much to get in tonight - it's usually pretty cheap at this venue, but now the Newcastle Brown has hit the £4 a bottle mark (only £3.30 a few months ago) I decide to give the bar a miss completely. There is a terrific atmosphere in the Boston Arms Music Room, and the reason is that Evil Scarecrow are playing. This band have build up quite a reputation for their highly entertaining live shows - featuring songs such as 'Robototron' and it's special Robot Dance with accompanying audience participation. Now their set contains something new in the form of the song 'Crabulon' - featuring a new sideways dance. The Crabulon itself appears on the stage and with the band leading the way audience participation is again the name of the game! The audience are enthusiastic putty in the band's hands and soon virtually the whole crowd are shuffling sideways crab-fashion from left to right across the room! This is a most fun I've seen at a gig for a very long time! As is often the case there are a few people present to see the other bands who have never heard of the headliners Evil Scarecrow - some of these people don't get it and are looking seriously confused. The people who don't get 'get it' or allow themselves to enjoy the show are missing out big time - Evil Scarecrow are enormous fun! It's almost (sort of) like how it is with The Darkness - it's not meant to be taken too seriously - just let go and allow yourself to be entertained! Musically things are pretty heavy, and the band are all good musicians; heavy riffs and catchy tunes abound - not often things found together. Unless you are a fan of the Wildhearts. The thing is - most thrash/black/death metal bands take themselves SO seriously - and the more seriously people take themselves the more likely they are to get the piss ripped out of them - which is exactly what is happening here. But with underlying respect for the actual music, because these musicians do genuinely LOVE Slayer and Metallica - but they like to put their own twist on things instead of just sounding like yet another metal-by-numbers band. This band are as heavy as any metal fan could want and play very well, but they most definitely do not take themselves seriously - although they are serious about the music itself. They are out to entertain, and they do that in (Ace of) spades with numbers like 'Sixty Six Minutes Past Six', 'Blacken The Everything', 'Morbid Witch', 'Robototron' and 'Vampyre Trousers' - not to mention their death metal version of Europe's cheese-fest classic 'Final Countdown'. You would have to be a terribly boring and serious person to go to an Evil Scarecrow gig and not have a good time - I challenge the most serious doom and gloom merchants not to have a smile of their faces at one of this band's shows! I hope it's not too long before Evil Scarecrow are back in London.