CHURCH OF NOISE - The Kambar, Cambridge
Entry: £3 before 11pm/with NUS, £4 after 11pm
Cambridge's monthly classic rock and metal night proves that the demand for a healthy dose of rock'n'roll is alive and strong. For a city so full of students, Cambridge seems to have remarkably little on offer for its rock community. Church of Noise was started a few years ago by Neil Jones, DJ of Star 107's Rock Show, because 'there was nothing else'.*
According to regulars, there is no point arriving before 10:30, although the doors are open from 9pm. Arriving around 10:30, people are dotted about the edges of the room looking unenthused by the guest DJs' choice of music, but as the opening of Rage Against The Machine's 'Killing In The Name Of' rings out, the change in the atmosphere is immediate - after all, who doesn't want to scream, 'Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!' at the top of their lungs on a Thursday evening?
The floor fillers are perhaps predictable. 80s metal is the order of the evening, the biggest successes undoubtedly being Mötley Crüe's 'Kickstart My Heart' and the song that launched a thousand air guitars - Guns N' Roses' 'Paradise City'. There is the occasional 'surprise hit' - 'American Idiot' by Green Day goes down very well, but attempts to play Blink 182 are thankfully met with less enthusiasm.
Late into the night, when the ambition of the air guitarists has increased in direct proportion to the amount of Jack Daniels consumed (or perhaps that was just me...), Neil asks, 'Who likes Tommy Lee?' and there is a mad dash for the front as dozens of metal-heads rush to claim a free copy of the single which they are guaranteed to spend the next month complaining about.
The diversity of Church of Noise's congregation can be easily seen, from the old-school AC/DC tour T shirts, to the punks, to the dead ringer for Ginger from the Wildhearts. There is also a wig doing the rounds which looks like a cruel blond mockery of Nikki Sixx. Band T shirts are an obvious talking point - as much as talking is necessary, and the disproportionate number of GN'R shirts cannot be allowed to go without a mention. My retro Hurricane Party shirt goes down a storm with Neil and his friend. Between us, we manage to extract a promise for Roadstar for next month, although my friend's requests for extreme German metal were thankfully ignored.
We drag ourselves away at 1am, a full hour before closing time, uncomfortably secure in the knowledge that screaming, 'Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!' at the alarm clock in a few hours will have no effect.
- Mary Boyle
(c) Pure Rawk 2006