Aktual Size, The Poppycodeans, The Hours, His and Herpes.

Esquires Bedford Lev 1. Thursday 16th March 2006.

Since the beginning of time, bands have always had the same problem "What shall we call ourselves?" This acute dilemma befits our first band tonight. Originally calling themselves The Shits, this was wisely changed in favour of the marginally less offensive HIS AND HERPES. This three piece Bedford band comprise of Joe and Tobi from Blind Theory with the addition of their friend Tysoe who supplies the bass and vocals to the power-pop punk band.
His and Herpes have only been rehearsing for just over a month and tonight is their debut gig. Opening song was their own composition 'Nowhere to Go' and the rest of their set is a mix of their own tracks and a sprinkling of classic covers by groups such as Rancid.
My favourite track was the Tysoe penned 'I Used to Care' and by time they arrived at this number the nerves had evaporated and the vocals became much stronger.

Indie band THE HOURS open with an absolute corker of a song, 'Crushed by the Weight', which I first heard during their soundcheck. It is even better second time around. 'Chasing Ghosts' has the sound of Muse breezing through it whilst 'Beyond Tomorrow' combines deep reflective lyrics and a punchy chorus to produce a superb song. Drummer Mark Powell and lead guitarist Ben Rivers both hail from Leamington Spa, bassist Lee Brueton is from Milton Keynes whilst guitarist and singer Tim Winstone is a resident of Northampton.
A keen fan films the entire gig from the side of the stage and The Hours are cheered on by a loyal bunch of supporters tonight, some of whom have travelled from as far away as Banbury in Oxfordshire (special mention must go to Rachel, Tyler, Winnie and Rob).
'So Forgiven' opens with some very haunting vocals and contains a riff that you could be forgiven for thinking is a prelude to some mighty metal mayhem. The Hours tonight impress us all, and all the more so when we learn they have not performed for some eight months and their vocalist has only just joined the band. Mark, Ben and Lee are of the opinion that Tim gives the band a little more scope - let's hope this is the beginning of some special for The Hours.

THE POPPY CODEANS lead singer, Jason Murphy, is resplendent in his trademark Parka which he proceeds to wear for the whole evening. These Bletchley boys are a psychedelic rock quartet who open with 'Poppy Vision', which contains everything except copious amounts of dry ice. These lads are my favourite band of the evening (they bring back so many memories for me) - the Roses influenced 'Universal Clan' sees guitarist Steven trying to obtain maximum distortion from his amp whilst 'Garden Man' has a more old punk sounds with bands like the Buzzcocks springing to mind. 'Northern Return' is as close as they get to a love song, in fact it could have been a sixties bed-in with The Lovin' Spoonful. Garage rock is then revisited with 'Reverse to Rewind' which elicits a great audience reaction.

Punk band AKTUALSIZE feature Stew (fetching mohican), Graham (drums) and Neil (bass / vocals). Patchwork man is pure old skool punk whilst 'L.L.G.G.' has more than a touch of Green Day about it. In fact, the only disappointing song of the set is a cover Elvis' 'Suspicious Minds' which is quite awful.
'Dead Again' is played with a terrific amount of passion while 'Liberals with Guns' is not the sort of tune that Sir Menzies Campbell would associate with!
As the seat drips from the band at the end of their set they rightfully receive a tremendous amount of applause - all credit to these Northampton boys.