15/10/2018 The Brutalists (and some Quireboys) @ Mau Mau Bar

Out on a Monday night again - often the best stuff isn't to be found at weekends so people who won't go out on a 'School night' are losing out. Tonight finds me at one of London's coolest and most intimate venues. Mau Mau Bar in Ladbroke Grove is a tiny and very non-corporate venue with a vibe not unlike the much missed 12 Bar Club in Denmark Street, although this is even smaller! Beer and cider is from bottles and cans only, but not as expensive as you might expect for a West London music venue. The reason I'm here is to see ex-Quireboys bassist Nigel Mogg's new band The Brutalists. The band take their name from the Brutalist form of post-war architecture - an ugly utilitarian form of building - punk architecture? Like the architectural form, this band's music is basic, but in a good way. For his new band ex-North Londoner but now LA resident Nigel Mogg has decided to step away from the bass and try his hand fronting a band instead. He seems to have taken to frontman duties like a duck to water.

Nigel has all the moves, and like his former bandmate Spike would appear to have been studying Rod Stewart closely, but more for his moves than his sound. You'd think Phil Mogg's 'young' nephew had been doing this for years - he certainly looks like a natural. His singing ain't bad either.

The rest of the band are all American and include early LA Guns rhythm guitarist Mick Cripps, although their sound is actually more British. The Brutalists sound very much like a 1970's London pub rock band - but a very good one! They remind me a lot of Dr Feelgood. and if you are a fan of that band then you'd probably be into this lot too. Even though they don't actually sound that much like the Canvey Island heroes. they have a similar vibe about them and are a very tight band indeed.

I really enjoyed The Brutalists set. They are on their debut UK tour along with Dirty Strangers on their 'There's Still Room To Rock N Roll' tour as well as promoting the first Brutalists album. This is one of the best new bands I've seen in ages!

Finishing off tonight's show are The Dirty Strangers. This band have gone through many lineup changes since the 1980's and are very well connected - both Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood have played on their albums in the past, and although this band has quite a punky pub rock sound, they have a bit of a Stonesey vibe about them even when playing without any Rolling Stones members. So what's the next nearest sounding thing to having Rolling Stones members in your band? Having Quireboys members in your band! And so we have Guy Griffin from that band helping out on guitar tonight - hidden on the left behind Dirty Strangers mainman Alan Clayton in the picture below.

As if having one Quireboys guitarist wasn't enough - partway through the set they are joined by ex-Quireboy Guy Bailey! And ex-Quireboys bassist Nigel Mogg looks on from only a few feet away looking well into it all. Wow - 3 current/ex-Quireboys all playing on one night in the same tiny West London venue!

If only all three Quireboys could have all been on the stage at the same time! Never mind, it still feels like quite a special evening and there is a really cool atmosphere in the place. And guess what? It was free to get in!

I had an interesting chat with Nigel Mogg later - I already knew we'd gone to the same school in North London, although we didn't know each other at the time as we were in different years, but as we compared tattoos we discovered we had something else in common - we both have almost identical tattoos on our forearms in tribute to Lemmy.

Mondays may be shit, but Monday nights don't have to be!