24/11/2012 Temple Of Gold & Healthy Junkies @ Dusk Till Dawn

Subject	Temple Of Gold & Healthy Junkies @ Dusk Till Dawn
DateCreated	11/30/2012 4:33:00 PM
	Saturday night and a bit of a change of scene from my usual haunts. I'm at Dusk Till Dawn - formerly the famous Archway Tavern. Why change the name when you already have a well known one and people know where the place is? The place has history as The Kinks used to play here. It's not a bad place - apart from the bar being rubbish for a pub. On my last visit I asked if they had any Newcastle Brown? None was visible in the chiller cabinets but the barman vanished up to the back and reappeared a couple of minutes later with a bottle - for £4. So why wasn't the Broon on display in the first place as I know plenty of rock fans who drink it? No such luck tonight though. Funny way to run a venue. No real ales either so they are hardly tempting me to visit the place regularly. However, like last night's gig in Camden I'm not here for the beer. Just as well really. Good to see some friends though. Only two bands on the bill tonight for the Some Weird Sin club. Still it's only a bargain £4 on the door so who's complaining? When I arrive there is hardly anybody in the venue, but it soon starts to fill up as the first band take to the stage. Healthy Junkies.seem to be popping up on the local circuit pretty regularly at the moment and are getting quite polished. The band have good stage presence and an unusually decent set of songs. The material is tuneful with a punk edge, along with a little Glam and grunge thrown into the mix - and a slight Queen Adreena influence. In fact that band's guitarist Crispin Gray can be seen propping up the bar at tonight's show. Their debut album 'Sick Note' is a strong effort packed with good tunes, and now some promising new songs are also starting to appear in the set - album number two is already being recorded. This lot have steadily improved over the last couple of years and are now one of the best bands on the Camden scene. Healthy Junkies turn in a strong performance, until the last song when the guitar packs up. The set ends with a guitarless Nirvana cover that doesn't really work tonight. The place has filled up nicely by the time the main band take to the stage. Most of the people present are Rachel Stamp fans - but why are they here? They are here to see Stamp frontman David Ryder Prangley's new band play their first ever gig. The band are called Temple Of Gold and are completely new, although one or two members might be familiar to followers of DRP's 'Glam Rock Youth Club' nights. Ex-Killing Miranda drummer Belle can also be seen playing in Lilygun as well as one or two other bands around town in addition to his DJ duties. The songs are all new, but not a million miles away from Rachel Stamp in style. This band has a slightly harder heavier edge though. I've amused myself this evening by trying to name all the bands who appear in short clips projected on the backdrop behind the stage - I'd noticed that one of them was Rachel Stamp, so it became a challenge to try and get a picture of DRP performing with his new band with his old band on the screen behind him. As you can (just) see below, I managed it in the end although it didn't come out very well. Rachel Stamp fans are probably going to like this new band too - just as well as the forthcoming Stamp show is rumoured to be the band's last ever gig. It would appear that recent talk of DRP 'retiring' has been less than accurate though. The new band play well and the crowd certainly appreciate them - best to keep an eye out for Temple Of Gold in the future I think..... It's been a good night at a well attended show, and after the bands are finished the club goes on until 3 in the morning with Simon Price among the DJs spinning the tunes - lots of punk rock classics get an airing along with a few Pulp numbers and some 70's glam and pop standards. I know all this 'cos I'm stupid enough to hang around long enough to miss the last tube. Fortunately Archway is served by Night Buses to the West End as well as Northbound so I still manage to get home eventually and crash out around 4.30.

PS: This venue has now become the new 'Intrepid Fox'.