28/7/2012 Cars Like Sharks @ The Barfly

Subject	Cars Like Sharks @ The Barfly
DateCreated	7/29/2012 4:25:00 PM
	Saturday night finds me back in Camden - fortunately an area that doesn't seem to be affected by Olympic crowd and public transport chaos so far. I'm going to see a band at The Barfly but they aren't on till late so it makes sense to drop into my new favourite Camden watering hole beforehand. Regular readers will notice a pattern starting to appear here... So I arrive at the BrewDog pub to find it less busy than expected for a Saturday night. Maybe a load of people are away on holiday or watching the Olympics on TV - they certainly aren't at the Olympics judging by the number of empty seats at the venues. BrewDog have come up with a new beer specially for the occasion - an 'anti-corporate Olympic' brew called Never Mind The Anabolics (did you see what they did there?) and I want to give it a try. It's not that strong compared to some of their beers at a mere 6.5% but it's not bad - I prefer it to their Punk IPA. After three of those I finish off with a 15% Anarchist/Alchemist which goes down very nicely! Then it's off to the Barfly to sober up... I'd been led to believe on this here interweb thingy that Cars Like Sharks would be taking to the stage at 11.15, so I timed my arrival accordingly - not wanting to spend any more time in such a horrible place to drink than neccessary. And there's a bloody toilet attendant lurking in the downstairs bog - making the Barfly an even less pleasant place to spend any more time than I have to. There is another band still playing at 11.15 and they have a few songs left - white boys doing a rock/rap/hip hop crossover unconvincingly. Please don't. CLS now have a stage time of 11.45. So much for my plan - I could have had another half-hour's BrewDog drinking time! Mind you - what state of disrepair would that have left me in on arrival at the Barfly? If the band do actually hit the stage at 11.45 I should just be able to catch their whole set - I'm not prepared to miss the last tube just because stage times aren't 'as advertised'. Fortunately, Cars Like Sharks do start their set around 11.45. This newish London band continue to improve with each show they play, and they were good from the start. All experienced musicians and veterans of the Camden club circuit, these guys know what they are doing. Formed out of members London underground bands Cavilry, The Roolettes and Dirty Fingernails have all 'paid their dues'. This is rock 'n' roll in a pretty basic 'no frills' form - and all the better for it. No keyboards, DAT backing tracks, fancy effects pedals or other 'talent substitutes' - not a laptop in sight! Just no bullshit straight ahead rock 'n' roll. Some catchy hooks, singalong audience participation, and general riff-tastic noise - ticks all the boxes for me. Fans of bands like The Wildhearts and Therapy? are probably going to like Cars Like Sharks too - this is pretty 'in-your-face' stuff and the band take no prisoners. Only a fiver on the door as well - bargain! And in spite of the later than advertised CLS stage time I still manage to get the tube home. Result!