The Upper Room, Novacaine, Grim City, Heartbeat Assassins.

Esquires Bedford Lev 2. 21st January 2006.

Reviewed by Martin Stapleton / Pictures by Suzy Cook.

Headlining tonights gig were Brighton fourpiece THE UPPER ROOM, comprising of Alex (vocals), Beau (bass), Johnny (drums) and Jim (guitar), they provide us a polished set of tunes that are easy on the ear.

Wearing sensible indie attire (Alex's choice of stripey jumper was very apt) I felt the lads could have demonstrated a little more charisma. Their new single 'All Over This Town' shows promise but it was their final song 'Black and White' which is the show-stopper, a tune that could be played endlessly on Radio 2. In the increasingly competitive indie world it will be interesting to see how The Upper Room fare, but as long as they keep producing tracks brimming with melody and harmonies they should see some success.

Preceding The Upper Room were Luton's NOVACAINE who seem to have been around forever but, incredibly, have never played here before. Novacaine are most impressive and they set about re-aliging out senses and unblocking our ears with thirty minutes of fractured pop hooks that are delivered with disjointed sledgehammer riffery! Their sixth song, wondrously entitled 'Here I am Just Flesh, Blood and Weakness' just about sums up their melodic alternative rock.





Starting the evening were two young local bands, GRIM CITY and Heartbeat Assassins who both seem to think that I set out to deliberately criticise their efforts. Lads - I don't - I just write my honest opinion of what I see and most importantly what I hear. I'd like to think that after some thirty years of attending gigs watching some very dodgy bands in some obscure toilet of a venue I know a little bit about the alternative music scene.

At Esquires we have a superb reputation as a live music venue which has been built up over the years by some very dedicated individuals (they know who they are!) - just remember what Radio One / NME journalist Steve Lamacq said about us - and he has been to more gigs than he has had hot dinners! It takes a lot of bottle to go up on the stage and perform in front of a room full of people, especially when you have a demented soul flashing lights repeatedly at you! However, young bands need to take note that not everyone who has come to see you perform are your family or your mates. Some of the people in the audience may have travelled a fair few miles and spent their hard earned cash in order to be entertained by a live band and these punters do not want to be subjected to tedious and drawn-out banter between songs or painful in-jokes for the benefit of some girl you know in the audience who you also quite fancy.
However, to be fair both GRIM CITY and HEARTBEAT ASSASSINS play entertaining sets this evening and both seem to have cut down on the mindless chat. Let's hope it is a new beginning for them.