The Koolaid Electric Company, Valentine Stitch, The October Game, The Venkman Project.

Esquires Bedford Lev 2 20th October 2006.

The first band on tonight were THE VENKMAN PROJECT. I missed the start of this 'cos I was watching Eastenders. Less of a band, more of a bloke with a guitar really. And a harmonica (these are the work of the devil). Also did a Bruce Springsteen cover. That should be enough information to tell if it's your sort of thing. Not mine.

The second band were THE OCTOBER GAME. Anyone looking forward to a bit of apple-bobbing would have been disappointed. It started promisingly enough with lots of swirly sort of guitars. Sadly it all went on a bit. At one point it looked as if the band had even managed to bore themselves. I declined the offer of a CD afterwards. (Note to band: £7 is a bit steep. You can buy proper ones in shops for less than that. If people sell a 3 track cd for £1 that is a bargain, and you can go and get an album later).

The next band were VALENTINE STITCH. I don’t like female singers, but she did have a good voice. I was mostly worried about her dress giving way. Luckily I think I was out of range of flying buttons. This lot were far more energetic and a bit more “rock”, but in a pub band sort of way.

The final band were KOOLAID ELECTRIC COMPANY, competing in the “how many people can you get on a small stage” regional heats. This is the type of band that I always imagine would sound better if you had taken some drugs first. I hadn’t, so to me their looping guitars and quiet vocals sounded like 8 of 10 support bands in the early 90’s. I like the idea that they had a Bez though. A bloke whose sole purpose was to wear big shades and play a tambourine like it was dead important. I thought he was getting a bit up himself at the point he got on the dancefloor with TWO tambourines. That’s just silly!!