Wednesday midweek blues…bollocks. There’s always something to do in London to take your mind off the daily grind and Wednesday night was the night LondOnTheInside were in Camden Town heading to the Lock Tavern to see Novella and Vancouver’s Shimmering Stars.
Upstairs the small room was tinged with a red neon glow while people loomed about in corners and pondered across the open floor. With a mix of old and young, a few elderly rockers with fine bristly tashes, after work geeks in suits and plenty of Camden vagabonds…a good crowd we thinks.
With four girls taking the stage it’s always slightly more appealing than four blokes but the stage in the Lock Tavern isn’t one of great size and makes things slightly awkward for more than three people. As Novella got underway the nodding of heads began affecting the crowd transcending a wave to the back of the room. A slightly shaky start was rid quickly and the melodic shoe gaze sounds swept up as the girls let the hair swing about their faces. Being at an intimate venue is always cool, it gives you the chance to really ‘see’ the band and their music, we very impressed by Cash Hutchinson’s drumming, absolutely solid and it really stood out. Playing ‘All The Things You Do’ we enjoyed singing along, slightly under our breath and a surprise cover of the Stokes ‘Someday’ was quite cool, it’s lo-fi fuzzy sound was equally enjoyable. Novella are supporting the Dum Dum Girls on all of their London dates in November, they really are worth checking out, very catchy noise indeed!
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As Novella cleared the stage Mr Faris Rotter walked in resulting in the girlfriend kicking me in the shin, great! He has been five steps behind us of late. Just shows that Novella are catching people’s attention.
Next up were a band all the way from Vancouver. Shimmering Stars, a great name we feel are a three piece who opened with a cover of The Beach Boys ‘In My Room’ which worked amazingly well with three vocals gently driving the track along before a hint of aggressive guitar noise brought it to an end. They had our attention.
Sounding very 50’s inspired and with great Beach Boys style melodies their songs were mainly slow but grabbed your attention through the unpredictable chainsaw guitar that would swoop in near the end of tracks. If that didn’t grab you guitarist and vocalist Rory McClure’s attack on the audience would. Stomping into the people in the first few rows he charged and pushed quite a few people back…an unexpected tactical manoeuvre of engaging the crowd maybe? He did apologise once the song finished as a little lady was slightly taken a back.
If you like 50’s rock n roll and a cool catchy melody with great harmonies these guys are right up your street. We thought they we great our only grumble, less chatter and more music. Check out their track ‘I’m Gonna Try’ it is brilliant.