Yes, the Scottish pub - it's a while since I've been and the place hasn't got any better. Quite the opposite in fact. Well I say 'pub', but what sort of pub sells no other beer other than Red Stripe. In tins. To call the place a dive would be an insult to divers. The place is maybe half full - unlike most shows by this band which normally sell out. However, they did also play at the Black Heart recently so... Unfortunately I couldn't get to that gig so here I am in Hipsterland. In spite of the trendy location beards are in short supply - apart from centre stage where Andy the singer manages to look far cooler than any hipster. Which isn't difficult to be honest
This gig see's this band playing in their spiritual East End heartland - appropriate as the have a song about ghosts - and how they don't actually exist.
Steampunk is alive and well - well at least it is in Hoxton tonight. The music is good and the songs are fun - even if most of the subject matter is pretty grim. And that's without even going into what the band's name actually means - something with a strong but grisly historical East End connection....
Musically, the band cross between extremely heavy death metal riffing and those lovable mockneys
Chas & Dave - enhanced tonight by the band actually playing a Chas & Dave cover 'That's What I like'.
I think there is more comedy and banter in the set tonight than usual, but the band do have a
professional comedian as their guitarist and a lot of the between songs banter is very funny! This is a highly entertaining band.
The band's original material is funny and inventive, but we also get another cover tonight - The Kinks 'Victoria' (also covered by The Fall) which is a terrific sing-a-long.
The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing are a very English band, but like Chas & Dave and The Kinks they are also a
very London band - with a strong sense of history (especially the Victorian era) - both good and bad.
I spend some beer money on a CD from the band's merch stall instead of at the bar on overpriced tinned lager. As the beer selection at this place is so utterly shite I decide to go without and slake my thirst at another pub on my way back to the station instead....
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