Red Light Rippers/King Lizard/the Whisky Syndicate/ Messiah
12th September 2006 - Bar Monsta, Camden London

Messiah:

Quite a young six piece semi prog rock band. They really didn’t seem to get the crowd going at all. Parts of them sounded like Europe, parts of them sounded like Journey. They looked like they were stuck in a bit of a time warp visually. If prog or 80's emotional rock is your thing then you’re onto a winner with Messiah, but on the night the floor space was a little empty for the opening act.

The Whisky Syndicate:

Hard rocking, fist to the air thrusting, solid rock n’ roll. The Whisky Syndicate seemed to up the tempo from the previous band and the small audience started to push forward. They were obviously liking what they heard. As much as I like the London sleaze scene, its nice to see a rock n roll band like TWS striking the right chords (in more than one sense of the word). Throughly enjoyed their set and very keen to check them out again. Obviously with a glass of whisky in hand ...

King Lizard:

When I very first saw King Lizard at Hotter Than Hell earlier this year, I’ll confess that I wasn’t that sold on them. I’ll have to say that I’ve had a change in opinion now. As a front man, Flash is emphatic and a joy to watch while their guitarist Niro is quite a master of the shred. They’ve got some shit kicking tunes in their repertoire (especially “Hell Yeah”) and I really enjoyed their set. They did really well as the main support act and by the end of their set, they’d well and truly warmed up Bar Monsta’s rockers.

Red Light Rippers:

One of the potential problems for the night was that Buckcherry were playing just down the road at the Camden Underworld and had well and truly sold it out. The Ripper’s had timed their set to start fifteen minutes or so after the Underworld curfew and the band had been relentlessly flyering the day before and prior to the gig trying to tempt people away from taking the tube home after Buckcherry. Sure enough, as the Ripper’s kicked into their set - Bar Monsta started to gradually fill up.

Starting on “Drag Race”, they really threw themselves into the set. Rip strutted his stuff into “This Dog” as Staci’s crunchy guitar riffage kicked in. The anthemic “Addicted” is probably the most note worthy song in the set. It’s tuneful melody is coated in a layer of gravelly vocals and will stick in your head from the moment you hear it. Their cover of “Pills” is incredibly catchy. Rip offered the tambourine out to the audience and naturally one obliged (me) ... beating the hell out of it and joining in on the vocal action. It had to be done!

Winding down their set into “I Get The Feelin” and a track that featured on the Classic Rock CD a month or so back, “Trailer Trash Trixie” Rip took the opportunity to make the bar his stage and climbed up onto the bar singing right into peoples faces. They ended on a cover “Steppin’ Stone” (originally done by The Monkees) that went down well - which Glen Matlock covered when they toured with him in April.

When I saw them at Junktion 7 in Nottingham at the back end of April, they had an incredibly solid set and played really well considering the turn out for a midweek. However, it’s safe to say that they firmly made their mark in London.

I’ll make no secret of the fact that I think these guys are seriously good. Scratch that - hand on heart they’re one of the tightest, most energetic, most fun bands that I’ve ever had the privilege to see live. They get right up into peoples faces, push their guitars your way, strut their stuff and have a good time on stage. They’re over here again around March/April time doing another ten day to two week tour of the UK. If you missed them this time, don’t miss them again.

Set list: Drag Race, This Dog, Freakshow, Addicted, See You Friday, Free Damnation, Pills, I Get The Feelin’, Trailer Trash Trixie, Steppin’ Stone

© Pure Rawk 2006