Bedford Alternative Music Presents: The Thursday Showcase.
Locker 26, Keep Cool Casanova, Judgement Day, The Good Hookers.

Bedford Esquires Lev 1 Thursday 8th March 2012.

Review by Martin Stapleton, Photos (c)Bedford Alternative Music 2011.

Tonight sees the final quarter of the fifteen bands showcased by Bedford Alternative Music. Of what I have witnessed this year, the standard has been high and to boot, it has proved to be one of the most varied and enjoyable showcase seasons. The only disappointing aspect locally, has been the notable lack of good alternative bands from Bedford itself.

East Bedfordshire has, for the past few years, always been a rich and fertile area for bands of varying genres, tonight Dannys Bar at Esquires sets its first viewing of LOCKER 26. They have brought with them a good sized following who cheer, encourage and applaud in all the appropriate places. This Sandy quartet offer some classy and melodic blues rock. Their thirty minute set sees them mixing their own material with a selection of covers. From the former, I particularly enjoyed a song which I think was entitled The Tease, apparently, this one is for the ladies and there are a lot in attendance. It contains an addictive riff running through it. The whole structure of the song is almost funkiest in feel. Although they appear a touch nervous at times, it?s a pleasant introduction to a band who hopefully we shall see again.

KEEP COOL CASANOVA are easily the most recognisable band to Esquires, having left a favourable impression on their main stage debut last year. The line up is certainly quite contrasting, as five young shavers are backed up by a more mature and heavily bearded sticksman, making an observation, I feel that K.C.C. are handicapped and dare I say, creatively castrated by the lack of space in the bar. Remembering how downright visual they were, the choreography is obviously curtailed somewhat. The synths sound plays a huge part, but one does ponder just how much more mileage is left in this style of music, bearing in mind that Enter Shikari formulated the brew way back in 2005.
Their tall frontman thrives as centre of attention, acting as an almost junior polemicist, as he selectively throws out random comments and defiantly rebels by declaring that K.C.C. will play one final song.
For this Bedford reviewer, I am exasperated to say, this is another promising Luton band. Wow what a musical conveyor belt the Hatters are producing at present.
Sensing that he has the crowd in the palm of his hand, he poses a loaded question. Who loves drum and bass, who loves a bit of a rave? If you do you will love this. Whereupon the said gentleman and a guitarist proceed to rave it up in front of an excited crowd.

JUDGEMENT DAY are back. Thrash metal fans rejoice. This fearsome and heavy quartet exude a certain cool detachment from the rest of the fare tonight, that makes them so special. Great vocals, very Sepultura. Its a blast from the past, but in a good way. Bitches and Trip The Wire sate the palate in a glorious way. Not since August 2009 has Esquires seen these dynamic detonators and their parting shot is of course Blisteringly Fast! A personnel highlight of the night.

Unfortunately due to Judgement Day not leaving the stage when they were asked to by the sound engineers, events are ever falling behind schedule and we are getting dangerously close to the eleven o clock curfew when THE GOOD HOOKERS make their belated appearance. They immediately made plenty of new fans tonight when they gave away copies of their E.P. (The Good Hookers C.D. Review)a nice gesture and much appreciated. This M.K. quartet certainly have an interesting band name! Are they rugger fans or perhaps have a penchant for cricket? No, with song titles such as Lesbo Pirates, In And Out Of You, plus the charming Breed Me A Whore, we know the true influences of these testosterone charged up lads.
Their groove metal could easily be lurve metal as it climaxes with S.E.X. A dramatic intro gives way to the three letters being powerfully shouted out.