Humanzi, Death Mile Fury, The Beautiful Sleazy, Paul Jackson, Embrace the City.

Lev 2 Esquires Bedford. 19th September 2009.

Oh dear! It seems so totally inconceivable that a band which has been constantly nominated for best Irish band, that have supported, amongst others, Dirty Pretty Things and The Strokes, play in Bedford to a very sparse and disappointing turn out. I suppose HUMANZI can draw a degree of comfort from the fact that The Libertines (including a certain Mr Doherty) and, to a lesser degree, Franz Ferdinand, suffered the same Bedford fate. With the negatives dealt with, what about the positive? Well, one reviewer once described our visitors - "Listening to Humanzi is like lying on your back with your head in the motorway"! Judging by tonight's performance I can definitely agree!

They give us a thirty minute lesson in manic new wave panache. The nature of the evening means it's been a lengthy wait, but patience is a virtue. This dynamic Dublin quartet produce a barrage of tightly constructed songs with a controlled level of musical punch and aggression. A 'gas guzzling' sleaze punk band who delight in sending everybody on a natural high. Shaun Mulrooney's vocals are strong and sit so perfectly on a minimal and slighly psychedelic undercurrent. If you like your bands to be fast, hard and heavy, Humanzi has to be your choice. Stellar guitars play an integral part of each song. Although he is belligerent in his vocal delivery, Shaun's between song banter could not be more contrasting. His quiet and almost shy lilting brogue is perhaps a true reflection of the bands' overall persona. I found them to be very polite and respectful during their visit.

This ROAR Club gig was perhaps one band too heavy as the evening ran for far too long. A slight shame, methinks! The support started with EMBRACE THE CITY, a young alternative punk rock band from Harlington. They include vocalist Elise Robinson whose infectious and enthusiastic demeanour is to be admired and applauded. The band, I understand, has undergone a major revamping and I feel that it works. One of their songs has to have one of the silliest titles of this year. It's called "Alan Sugar beat my Girl". Definitely one for the Fall Out Boy fans. Confident and proficient, it's an enjoyable set that showed lots of promise. Hopefully they will return to Esquires soon.

After splitting with The Swamis, PAUL JACKSON reverts to a natural love of his. He and a drumming partner sit cross-legged at the front of the stage for a short set of Indian classical music. Paul performs on the sitar. A beautiful instrument which he gives perfect justice and respect to. These strange but mesmerizing Asian grooves are so dramatic. It's personal and skilfully executed. It produces a result that is, erm, yeah, far out man!

THE BEAUTIFUL SLEAZY are a personal favourite. It's always a pleasure to see them when they travel into Bedford. They are choc-full of classic bluesy Brit-rock with ubiquitous swagger. Catchy hooks merge with inventive strolls. They have a vast and broad musical terrain. Shortly due to record an album, the almost proro revivalists offer up slice after slice of archaic and visceral indie R'n'B which, during the course of the set, induces a few psychotic mood swings. The vocalist is both confident and dominating and may wish to know that a female attendee thought that he had nice shiny hair, but did add that the band were slightly 70's camp! Well you can't win them all!!

DEATH MILE FURY return minus Blaine. Their rhythmic loopery lo-fi drum'n'bass does, once again, wear thin pretty damn quickly! The hoodie rapper is very visual and interesting to watch, always animated in everything he does. The due offer something a little different for Esquires and I suppose that has to be commended.