Rattlesnake Remedy, Sacred Mother Tongue, Son of a Gun, Sphere, Handsome Dan.

Esquires Bedford Lev 1. Thursday 17th March 2006.

Tonight sees the welcome return of the 'One for the Underground' nights where the Godfather of Metal and Rock, Paul Craven, takes us into a land of noise mayhem. However, the season starts with a curiously low-key five band evening.

Early in January, downstairs in Danny's Bar, some very familiar faces re-appeared with the working title band name of HANDSOME DAN. They were, with the exception of the vocalist, previously known a few years ago as The View. A Sandy band formed by school friends that performance a few months ago rightly earned them a chance on the big stage of level 2. Dave, Ben, Luke and Taff get the evening off to a flyer with a combination of their own compositions and covers. 'Tonight' and 'Sweet Thing' are the highlights of an enjoyable set.

Bedford's SPHERE and Milton Keynes' SON OF A GUN follow, but both were less than helpful about their material. They were good, but that is about all I can say. Perhaps they should follow the example of the big touring bans who come to Esquires but who are so much easier to deal with. A real shame!

Much more helpful and my stars of the evening were SACRED MOTHER TONGUE whose sound, look and presence more than matches their exotic name. Returning to Level II their set opens with 'Wake Up Call' and is intense from start to finish. 'Not Afraid' is a tune that manages to be both mellow and heavy but after a day celebrating St. Patrick's Day I certainly am afraid of these boys. 'Force fed' ends their impressive set and leaves me hoping for a quick return visit.

Headline band RATTLESNAKE REMEDY are, to put it kindly, a poor mans Quireboys, and that doesn't go down too well in the Bedford area. Their doppelganger Spike has a highly inflated opinion of their music which is basically a bog-standard set of bluesy-rock, the kind that AC/DC do so much better, and have been doing for many years.