Friday 29th November 2002. at Bedford's The George & Draggon, Mill Street.
This gig was sponsored by Green peace, which also put on a gig
at the G&D in July last year with Moolie supporting. With £3. Entrance for 3 bands that turned up and
the money going to charity, this was quite a well-organised gig, with competent staff also (other venues take note!).
There was a mixed age range in attendance; even the younger crowd were not put off by it being a pub gig at one of the
trendier pubs in town. The G&D has a large upstairs room looking a bit like a large Viking barn and makes an extremely
good venue for gigs. - - - - - - -
- - -Keith. www.bedfordmetal.co.uk
THE U.G.'s are quite a young band and were competently able to deliver. They seem like a well-practiced band and
produce a tight set. In some parts of their songs they had unified drumming going together with the guitar work, creating
a skilful effect to their emo sound. The guitarist's (lead + bass) also showed good potential in their singing, proving
that they dont't necessarily need a separate lead singer, as the Superman T shirted guitarist + base had stage presence in
both singing and guitar work.
Their set also included the Geoff Beck cover - Silver Lining, alowing the crowd to sing along with altered lyrics "Hey ho
smoothy bastards everywhere you go". I didn't even know this band was on the bill but they made a much welcome addition!
Worthy headliners in their own right - ZIPPER create a good style of music. Their drumming seems to particularly stand out as
being quite proffesional.
You soon see that there is a high level of instrumental ability involved in this band, you couldn't fault their lead guitarist, who's
effects pedals, and stage equipment were neatly contained in his 007 style open case on the floor. Some of their stuff tended to sound
experimental, like a jam session. Despite their instrumentation I thought the vocals came over a bit week. I don't think they would be
out of place having a separate, stronger lead singer with some stage presence included in the line up.
A good way of gaining a healthy crowd response is having a C.D. out, giving the audience familarity with some of the songs in the set.
THE JEHU EXPLOTION have capitalised on this, having produced a 5 track E.P. containing some exellent sounds.
Again, this band have an experimental quality to the sound only with more direction. You would think Tom Jehu was born holding a guitar, he
seems to know how to get every kind of sound out of it, even picking up random objects to manipulate the strings, he virtually plays blindfolded -
not needing to look at the guitar once, with bent over double movements, eyes staring upwards or having his guitar buried under his hair,
contributing to the bands self styled almost intriguing presence, but hey... isn't the bass player of bands usually static and moody? - Not this
one, at one point he put the bass down and performed a quirky dance movement and acrobatic hand stands followed.
There was a good crowd response throughout all the bands, but with Jehu having the heavier edge, this enabled a bit of crowd moshing. They're
certianly capable of defying anyone thinking that this band are boring, - with their tunes, sounds and ability - there certainly not that.