28/5/2022 Syteria @ The Cart & Horses

...So I leave the Bike Shed Motorcycle Show at Tobacco Dock when it closes at 8.00 and get the train(s) to the gig - which takes a surprisingly long time considering both places are in East London.

The brand new Elizabeth Line/Crossrail is now (partly) open. I thought as it goes from East to West and most of my journeys in London go North to South I wouldn't have much use for it, but less than a week after it finally opened I was on it - twice in one night. In spite of all the media hype it's still not actually finished and won't be for another year - and you can't currently travel on it from one end to the other as it's split up into 3 sections and you have to change trains twice. However, I can report that the new stations are massive and the trains themselves seem about a mile long! However, inside the trains don't seem any better then the latest ones I use regularly on GNR - and on leaving Liverpool Street the information screens in the train aren't working. 😕 After I eventually get to Liverpool Street (via DLR & tube) The Lizzy Line train reaches Maryland pretty quickly, and I find that the venue is virtually within sight of the station - so it should be quite easy to get to in the future.

The Cart & Horses is a recently refurbished East London pub where Iron Maiden apparently played their first ever show. To be honest I doubt very much if anyone from the band or the audience in the pub that night would recognise anything at all if they stepped into the same pub in 2022. However, the people in charge of the place now have obviously spent a great deal of money modernising the pub for better or worse, and the Iron Maiden connection is now the pub's entire raison d'être. The target clientelle is obviously rock and heavy metal fans, and the place is virtually an 'Iron Maiden' theme pub - but I don't see anything wrong in that. At least the pub still exists - which is more than can be said for my local pub in Barnet that Iron Maiden once played in.

Predictably, the Maiden theme extends to the beers on offer - Trooper obviously, but also all the other currently available Iron Maiden beers from Robinsons brewery. The only snag is - the pub has no real ales available on draught at all - not even Trooper! 😮 Not good enough! The other Maiden beers on offer tend to be in small bottles and work out very expensive so you are better off sticking to Trooper as it least it comes in large bottles and is far better value for money. The usual common keg beers are available on tap for the less discriminating beer drinkers...

A new feature of the pub is it's dedicated music venue downstairs. I am guessing that this room now taking up most of the pub's beer cellar is the reason for the lack of real ales available on draught. 😞 At least there is a bar downstairs, although you have to go back upstairs when you need a piss. The new downstairs music room is modern and well equipped though. - lacking the traditional 'rock 'n' roll toilet' venue vibe with it's suspect smells and sticky floors. At least everything is painted black - as it should be. 👿

It's great to finally see Syteria back playing a London venue that is actually in London - unlike last time they played a 'London' show on tour... Actually, it's great to see Syteria after lockdown etc, now that bands can finally actually start to get out on tour again. Syteria is the side project of Girlschool lead guitarist Jackie Chambers.

Girlschool tend to have a lot of downtime between festival appearances, tours, and making new albums - so as Jackie likes to keep busy she formed her own band in her home town of Leeds. Two albums later and they are out on tour again.

Now they have new music to promote in the form of new single It Hit Me. It's much more poppy and commercial that the band's usual heavier and harder hitting songs, but ironically has been played on Planet Rock national DAB radio! Don't worry - the band haven't 'sold out' and gone lightweight, 'cos when they play this song tonight it sounds very different (and much better) than the 'single release!

Apart from this one new song, all the other material played tonight is harder and heavier - at times sounding quite like Girlschool - which isn't that surprising as some of the songs were written for Girlschool but not used.

There has been a change to the band lineup since I last saw the band; Keira Kenworthy has left to play bass in JoanOvArc and her place is now filled by the very capable Steph Dawson.

As the band are currently on tour they are tight and polished - they sound excellent - apart from the guitars being too quiet, but that's due to the venue's sound mix and not the band themselves.

As the band now have two full albums of their own music to promote there are no covers and Jackie doesn't show her punk roots with the band's often played in the past cover of the Ramones classic 'Rockaway Beach'. Fortunately Syteria's own material is strong enough to stand on it's own - 'Revolution' from the band's debut album 'Rant-o-Bot' is particularly catchy.

There is strong material on the band's second album 'Reflection' as well like rebel rouser ''Make Some Noise!', with 'Asylum' and 'Plastic Fantastic' also being standout tracks.

I'm not usually a fan of drum solos but...

...this is really good, and well choreographed as the rest of the band sit down on the stage to showcase Pablo Calvo enjoying his moment.

Then it's back to business as Julia resumes her duties fronting the band. She has a great voice and doesn't have to resort to screaming or shouting as is currently fashionable in the metal scene - give me a proper singer any time!

All to soon (actually well over an hour after the band took to the stage) the show starts to draw to a close...

...Syteria are getting their stagecraft well honed by now..

...and build up to a big ending for their final song of the night...

...Syteria show they are a polished and professional act ready for bigger stages.

This band certainly know how to end a show! Hopefully it won't be too long before they make it back to London again.

So, back to the Elizabeth Line for a straightforward journey home? Just getting from Shadwell to Maryland should have taken just over half an hour, but actually took over an hour after I tried to second guess the TFL Journey Planner on my phone thinking I knew a better route the planner had missed.. Getting home from Maryland should have taken not much over an hour...I left the venue in time for the the train around 11.00 - so far so good. I got to Finsbury Park where I had the option of the Piccadilly line to Cockfosters or my preferred faster GNR to New Barnet. I found there was a GNR suburban train even sooner than expected so I jumped on. It seemed to good to be true - and the train duly sailed through New Barnet at high speed without stopping - until Potters Bar. 'Oh well' I thought 'It will take longer but I'll just get the next train back to New Barnet'. Only there wasn't one - they had finished for the night. No buses that time of night either. So I had a six mile walk home to Dark Towers - cross country in the middle of the night. At least it wasn't cold or raining. My simple hour or so's journey home took three hours in the end. A lesson learned the hard way - don't try to second guess the TFL Journey Planner - you might think you know better and there is a quicker way, but there probably isn't.