Part Chimp, The Men of Unitus, Notorious Hi-Fi Killers, The Black Ramps.

Esquires Bedford Lev 2 15th July 2006.

REVIEW ONE BY MARTIN STAPLETON

After a very enjoyable afternoon soaking up the sun, sights and sounds (not to mention copious amounts of the 'falling down water') at the town's River Festival, it was time to retreat to the 'old church' to catch up on tonight's bands.

Presented by 'No-Lite' records, I am delighted to see that THE BLACK RAMPS are opening the show. A band I never tire of witnessing, the three piece certainly make this venue shake and it's a terrible shame that there are not more people here. The favourites 'Megatron Hair', 'Battlecat' and of course 'Saucer Crash' all get an airing. Musically, Black Ramps are straight down the line - no histrionics, no mindless chat, just music played damn well and credit to them for it.

I'm afraid THE NOTORIOUS HI-FI KILLERS didn't really impress me too much. They kicked off really well with 'Prayer', but that seem to be the sum of the parts and final song 'Into the Light' really should have been retitled 'Into the Dark' (I was sorely tempted!).

Dull, Boring, Inconsequential - certainly not the words to describe THE MEN OF UNITUS, whose long serving vocalist always seems to be teetering on the edge of insanity when he performs here! Lanky and probably triple-jointed he cajoles himself into more and more outrageous antics and his singing melts into this talented bands playing. The song 'Guitarmageddon' probably sums it up better than I ever could. The local music scene definitely needs this sort of character!

PART CHIMP describe their music as 'Unique Noise Terror'. Sadly that is not what I would call it. Perhaps it was an off-night but for me the end cannot come quick enough.

REVIEW TWO BY KAREN JONES

Right…I don’t have much money, none of my friends are out, but there’s bands up at Esquires…

OK – BLACK RAMPS. I have been told by someone that I’d like them. Wrong. Not that they were bad, just not that interesting. They obviously like Dinosaur Jr. So do I – have done for years, but they do start to bore you after a while (3 songs in a row max).

Next - Notorious HI-FI KILLERS (probably no hyphen). They were OK. I hadn’t done any drugs but they had a kind of Hendrix feel to them. I would’ve liked to turn them from 33rpm to 45rpm, but still liked ‘em.

MEN OF UNITUS- well what can I say??? If there was no care in the community then this lot wouldn’t exist. Top stuff. If you haven’t seen them they look like a load of librarians that will kick your head in. Brilliant!! All hail the beardy man...

PART CHIMP?? Part Bollocks! I like noise as much as the next person, but good noise. I wasn’t sure if they were still sound checking. Musically it was better than a lot of stuff I’ve seen, but vocals (he certainly can’t be called a singer) were poor. Get yerselves a shouty beardy man.

Almost forgot- although I didn’t want to see beardy man’s pants, he wasn’t breaking the law, so f**k off you twatty-no-sense-of-humour-bouncer!!!