11/5/2019 Lilith & The Knight, Gasoline Thrill & Filthy Militia @ The Unicorm

Back to a venue that used to be my Camden home from home - The Unicorn. Lilith & The Knight are the main reason for my attendance, but as always there are other acts of interest. As it's free to get in and as the (bottled) ale is cheap there is no reason not to get there early enough to see the earlier bands.  OK, so I didn't get my shit together in time to catch the earliest acts.

The first band I see are Filthy Militia. Punky funky ska. The saxophone makes them more interesting and they are quite lively but don't really float my boat.

Yeah, I know - shit pictures. I can actually get better pictures on my phone than my current digicam (not using flash) but I have had my previous phone knocked out of my hand while trying to take pictures in the crowd at this venue and phones are much more expensive than expendable £50 digicams so....

Next up are Gasoline Thrill. Emerging from the ashes of all girl band Catfight about 10 years ago this band were Camden regulars for a while, but with line-up changes and who know's what else they seemed to disappear for a while. Think Distillers/Joan Jet/Johnny Thunders and you are pretty much in the right ball park.

Frontgal Samara Kain has a formidable Brody Dalle style croak and is a very energetic performer - when she sings Joan Jett's Ramones rip-off 'Bad Reputation' you believe her! The band's original songs are convincing too.

I've been looking forward to seeing Lilith and the Knight again after finally managing to catch them for the first time a few months ago - at this same venue. *see previous posts involving this venue & also Camden Rocks* I was very impressed then by the full-on metal performance from their singer - charismatic, with an amazing image, and a stunning vocal performance - actual singing as opposed to the dumbed-down grunting, screaming and fake 'emotion' many modern heavy metal singers think they need to be 'down with the kids'. This seems far more honest to me.

The rest of the band are excellent players even if they don't look like they are in a metal band - maybe the band should employ a stylist? Don't take that remark too seriously, but if the band want to be taken seriously maybe they should consider going for a more 'group/gang' look rather than looking like they usually all play in different bands (maybe they do?) and couldn't be bothered dressing any differently for this gig tonight.

The music is very good though, and with a little thought they could (and should) be playing in bigger venues and gaining a reputation.

Ominously(?) the band have announced that this is the last ever show where they will play any of these songs. Apparently they are about to totally change everything and reinvent themselves - maybe even changing the line-up. This is the last time we will ever see Lilith and the Knight in their current form and we will never hear their old songs like 'Formaldehyde' again. I'm sad to hear this as although I was late to the party I was getting in to what they were doing and thought they had great potential. I hope they know what they are doing...

Maybe no more stuff like this?

Next time we see them it will be 'Lilith and the Knight, but not as we know them Jim'. Watch this space....