When the drugs don't work anymore at The Hob; Truth About Vegas, The Harriots and Loose Lips.

I need to stop going to The Hobgoblin, this is now the third classic Saturday night in a straight row. It can’t go on, I’m riding my luck.

Tonight?

I’ve found myself in the land of Skinny Jeans and Skinny Kids - this is indieworld.

It was a night of pure ‘Power Pop’ – of course they aren’t going to like me saying that because all three bands would describe themselves as ‘Power punk’.

You’ll have to forgive this old punk for being a pain. Think ‘The Skids’, ‘The Motors’; think ‘New Wave’ in general but with some gravel thrown in.

 

Truth about Vegas

 

That’s Joe Sharman, Jack Gee, Sean Bowen and Jacob Howell and they are very local – Walton. They describe themselves as:

 “a young, new and exciting band on the London music scene. Fusing pop punk with their distinctively energetic, yet melodic, guitar driven sound they captivate any audience they play to”.

And that’s about right – it was thoughtful, clever stuff (all their own) played well with bursts of really hard power.

 

At the time I was being the local drunk magnet – attracting all the slurring, wobbling incoherents of Staines to came over and talk into me. It’s a gift I have.

Also there was Vegas’s biggest ever fan shouting in my ear about how good they were and then demanding that they play ‘Rock and Roll’.

They did and in fact, at the end of a hectic 7 day national tour, they were back on their home ground and to be fair, they were good.

Loose Lips

Loose Lips are from Brighton and this is how they describe themselves;

“Brighton has been churning out great bands throughout music history, it must be the sea air, and now is no different. Welcome Loose Lips....

Consisting of Jason Barker (Lead Vocals and Guitar), Ben Moore (Vocals and Bass) and Sam Perkins (Vocals and Drums), Loose Lips are on the brink of breaking the music mould and its easy to see why. With the cheek and confidence to make you sit up and listen, then with the musical talent to back it all up Loose Lips are a force to be reckoned with.

After phenomenal response back from their debut EP release 'Cloud Your Thoughts' the band are arguable one of the busiest groups out there. With countless supporting shows to the likes of Futures and Don Broco also playing festivals throughout the summer such as Redfest.

Loose Lips are a refreshing change to the watered down cordial music that pollutes our charts today.”

 

They put themselves in the “Punk Indie Rock” box.

Me?

 

I’d say less pop more gravel. Lots of power, plenty of aggression. Lots of fun.

 

  The Harriots

 

The Harriots are a four piece band from Feltham and according to them they have a;

“a sparkling energy that is missing from so many other bands around today. They are here to prove that there is still a beating heart in Rock and Roll with a set of songs, massive self-confidence and a youthful exuberance that no band over the past few years can match. The band's influences take in the best from British guitar music from The... Who through to The Jam and all the way up to Oasis and Arctic Monkeys. The band blend these influences to come up with hugely catchy sing-along tunes with what can be described as a very 'London' sound.”

I enjoyed them a lot – lots of power, lots of energy – and then when their amplifier failed we had bit of a sing-along to some classic covers.

Except that for me it was becoming quite an emotional night – several people said hallo including someone who came up to say how I’d done some ‘work’ for her Dad, which was very nice- I was in a little piece of Feltham in Staines, that little grain of sand in the oyster.

Then, while the frantic attempts to save the amp were failing, someone from the crowd joined the band
 

 

to sing  Richard Ashcroft’s (The Verve) ‘When the drugs don’t work anymore’, which was not necessarily an anthem to drug excess but a poignant song about watching his dad, dying from cancer.

“Now the drugs don't work

 They just make you worse”

So, all in all that was a very special night for me down at the Hob.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)   

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