Sirenide, The Little Villeins, Spiked, Simple Certainty.

Bedford Esquires Lev 2. 8th June 2007.

A fresh and energetic spirit descended over level 2 this evening as three bands new to the Esquires stage gave rise to support the theory that the ground-swell of young people playing in, and forming bands shows no signs of abating.

Starting off were SIMPLE CERTAINTY from Biggleswade. They feature Kai (vocals), Brad (drums), Ben (bass), Adam (guitar), and Alan (guitar). A confident young band that during its five song set covered subjects such as over-bearing spouses in 'Breakout', prostitution in 'Don't Feel For Me', hairy women in 'Moustache', and pretty young ladies in 'What I can't Afford'. The more serious 'Little Jenny' tackles the issue of an under-privileged society. It's a brief and brisk ride, and in fact the only certainty is that a name change is in the pipeline (apparently to The Phets).

The total exuberance of youth was amply exemplified by the Esquires debut of the all-girl quartet SPIKED. They had feisty vocals from a singer who, for her tender years, had the audience firstly enraptured and secondly bouncing up and down in the mosh pit. She was backed up by a twin guitar assault and a diminutive drummer who struggles to see over her drum kit! From Hitchin, they have a sound that reminds me of The Hedrons, and considering their age, it was a set full of craft, potential, and a degree of pop nous. It was so full of teen spirit and steeped in influences that reached way beyond their years. 'Pretty Like You', the slower 'Hey Little Girl', mixed so well with the pseudo-grunge sounds of 'Dress' and the punky-pop 'Cigarettes and Rock'n'Roll'. All this from Spiked, four girls well short of ordering their first snakebite and black!

I felt from their performance tonight that our next band The LITTLE VILLEINS (sic) may be filed in the 'could have done better' category. Visually they appear to be a slightly ramshackle bunch, and at times they played like it. Total band co-ordination only materialised spasmodically, that happened on the marvellous tunes 'Beautiful Mind' and 'Time is Time' which both possess a skankin' undercurrent. Otherwise it seems that one guitarist is submerged in his own jam session, while another was intermittently playing out of tune! As for the vocalist, he just seems to want to have a running conversation with his mates in the crowd! The only stabilising factor amongst The Little Villeins is the female drummer who kept a constant beat throughout.

Leighton Buzzard's SIRENIDE never let us down, and tonight's show gave them a chance to play us some of their new material. On first hearing, I'm sure 'Tomorrows Regret?' and 'Mislead' will prove to be just as popular as 'Siren's Kiss' and 'Got the Ticket' have been these last eighteen months. The new stuff goes down well and Sirenide play enough of the old favourites to quench the crowds thirst. It certainly boosted my physical state as having a touch of the 'man-flu' these past few days. Sirenide were certainly a better tonic than anything you can buy from the chemist!