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This gig was put on by No Sweat as a benefit for London Tube and Rail cleaners. Most of these workers get minimum wage with no sick pay or pension, have to pay for their travel to get between stations, and often do two full-time cleaning jobs. Many are immigrants who are subject to bullying by management and sacking if they strike. They are the people who clean up bodies when there is a fatality, but get no extra pay for this, or even counselling for what is obviously a very traumatic experience.
With that out of the way, lets move onto the first act of the night, Perkie. Billed as ‘Loungecore / PianoPunk’, I wasn’t too sure about this one, but it turned out to be a ‘stereotypical’ punk girl playing keyboard and singing bittersweet songs in a voice beautiful enough to melt a hardened critics heart, yet still with a raw edge. Subject matter ranged from love to conceptions of beauty to switching off the TV and going out to achieve your goals. A really good start to the evening!
Next up was Naomi Hates Humans, for me the weakest act of the night, although that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the set. Comprised of a drummer, bass player and Naomi on vocals and acoustic guitar, I’m not quite sure how to describe the music. She has a good voice on her, a bit gruff and gravely which adds some texture to the sound, but not many songs stood out for me. She never descends into usual singer / songwriter clichés with whiney love songs, a definite plus, and it was an enjoyable set, just not especially memorable in my opinion (but maybe that was due to the Guinness... Who knows).
The third act of the night was probably the biggest departure from the norm, a political hip-hop act from Sheffield, The Ruby Kid. This was a good set, and I can see The Ruby Kid being great with a fuller band, but tonight it was just him, his bass player, and an iPod to provide the backing tracks. He still showed himself as a thoughtful and intelligent rapper, the track ‘Art Versus Industry’ showcases some brilliant lyricism, and some spoken word by himself and some friends towards the end of the set showed he can still hold a good rhythm and flow without any other music to back him up.
The penultimate act is named Smokey B*****d (I can't link them due to the rudeness in their name, but I'm sure you can work it out and find them on MySpace). A celtic folk-punk band in the vein of Flogging Molly and The Dropkick Murphys, this lot are actually from Reading and have seven members playing all sorts of instruments; a fiddle, penny whistle, accordion, harmonica… as well as the usual suspects of guitar, bass, drums. It’s nothing new, swaggering songs about drinking laced with plenty of swearing, but the band look to be having a great time and it rubs off somewhat on the crowd. It’s a set that focuses on fun, and they’re surprisingly tight considering the number of members and their reasonably young age. The band will probably never to reach the heady heights of their American contemporaries, but it’s a safe bet they’ll win themselves a fairly big following and keep playing as long as the drinks are flowing and the fun times rolling.
The headline act tonight is Babar Luck, the King Prawn bass player who has forsaken a full band for himself and an acoustic guitar. Tonight he is accompanied by Captain Hotknives, an acoustic artist with a penchant for funny songs, playing bass guitar. Unfortunately I only saw a few songs of the Gangsta-Folk stylings as I had to catch the last train home, but Babar Luck is a really down to earth artist, doing things DIY and spreading his message of One Love far and wide. His sound takes in hip-hop, world music, folk, punk, ska and reggae to create a rich acoustic sound. I highly recommend checking him out if he’s playing near you.
So all in all a good nights entertainment, all for a good cause. For more information about the campaign Click Here
With that out of the way, lets move onto the first act of the night, Perkie. Billed as ‘Loungecore / PianoPunk’, I wasn’t too sure about this one, but it turned out to be a ‘stereotypical’ punk girl playing keyboard and singing bittersweet songs in a voice beautiful enough to melt a hardened critics heart, yet still with a raw edge. Subject matter ranged from love to conceptions of beauty to switching off the TV and going out to achieve your goals. A really good start to the evening!
Next up was Naomi Hates Humans, for me the weakest act of the night, although that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the set. Comprised of a drummer, bass player and Naomi on vocals and acoustic guitar, I’m not quite sure how to describe the music. She has a good voice on her, a bit gruff and gravely which adds some texture to the sound, but not many songs stood out for me. She never descends into usual singer / songwriter clichés with whiney love songs, a definite plus, and it was an enjoyable set, just not especially memorable in my opinion (but maybe that was due to the Guinness... Who knows).
The third act of the night was probably the biggest departure from the norm, a political hip-hop act from Sheffield, The Ruby Kid. This was a good set, and I can see The Ruby Kid being great with a fuller band, but tonight it was just him, his bass player, and an iPod to provide the backing tracks. He still showed himself as a thoughtful and intelligent rapper, the track ‘Art Versus Industry’ showcases some brilliant lyricism, and some spoken word by himself and some friends towards the end of the set showed he can still hold a good rhythm and flow without any other music to back him up.
The penultimate act is named Smokey B*****d (I can't link them due to the rudeness in their name, but I'm sure you can work it out and find them on MySpace). A celtic folk-punk band in the vein of Flogging Molly and The Dropkick Murphys, this lot are actually from Reading and have seven members playing all sorts of instruments; a fiddle, penny whistle, accordion, harmonica… as well as the usual suspects of guitar, bass, drums. It’s nothing new, swaggering songs about drinking laced with plenty of swearing, but the band look to be having a great time and it rubs off somewhat on the crowd. It’s a set that focuses on fun, and they’re surprisingly tight considering the number of members and their reasonably young age. The band will probably never to reach the heady heights of their American contemporaries, but it’s a safe bet they’ll win themselves a fairly big following and keep playing as long as the drinks are flowing and the fun times rolling.
The headline act tonight is Babar Luck, the King Prawn bass player who has forsaken a full band for himself and an acoustic guitar. Tonight he is accompanied by Captain Hotknives, an acoustic artist with a penchant for funny songs, playing bass guitar. Unfortunately I only saw a few songs of the Gangsta-Folk stylings as I had to catch the last train home, but Babar Luck is a really down to earth artist, doing things DIY and spreading his message of One Love far and wide. His sound takes in hip-hop, world music, folk, punk, ska and reggae to create a rich acoustic sound. I highly recommend checking him out if he’s playing near you.
So all in all a good nights entertainment, all for a good cause. For more information about the campaign Click Here
...
:-S
:-S
im seeing it
This gig was put on by No Sweat as a benefit for London Tube and Rail cleaners. Most of these workers get minimum wage with no sick pay or pension, have to pay for their travel to get between stations, and often do two full-time cleaning jobs. Many are immigrants who are subject to bullying by management and sacking if they strike. They are the people who clean up bodies when there is a fatality, but get no extra pay for this, or even counselling for what is obviously a very traumatic experience.
With that out of the way, lets move onto the first act of the night, Perkie. Billed as ‘Loungecore / PianoPunk’, I wasn’t too sure about this one, but it turned out to be a ‘stereotypical’ punk girl playing keyboard and singing bittersweet songs in a voice beautiful enough to melt a hardened critics heart, yet still with a raw edge. Subject matter ranged from love to conceptions of beauty to switching off the TV and going out to achieve your goals. A really good start to the evening!
Next up was Naomi Hates Humans, for me the weakest act of the night, although that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the set. Comprised of a drummer, bass player and Naomi on vocals and acoustic guitar, I’m not quite sure how to describe the music. She has a good voice on her, a bit gruff and gravely which adds some texture to the sound, but not many songs stood out for me. She never descends into usual singer / songwriter clichés with whiney love songs, a definite plus, and it was an enjoyable set, just not especially memorable in my opinion (but maybe that was due to the Guinness... Who knows).
The third act of the night was probably the biggest departure from the norm, a political hip-hop act from Sheffield, The Ruby Kid. This was a good set, and I can see The Ruby Kid being great with a fuller band, but tonight it was just him, his bass player, and an iPod to provide the backing tracks. He still showed himself as a thoughtful and intelligent rapper, the track ‘Art Versus Industry’ showcases some brilliant lyricism, and some spoken word by himself and some friends towards the end of the set showed he can still hold a good rhythm and flow without any other music to back him up.
The penultimate act is named Smokey B*****d (I can't link them due to the rudeness in their name, but I'm sure you can work it out and find them on MySpace). A celtic folk-punk band in the vein of Flogging Molly and The Dropkick Murphys, this lot are actually from Reading and have seven members playing all sorts of instruments; a fiddle, penny whistle, accordion, harmonica… as well as the usual suspects of guitar, bass, drums. It’s nothing new, swaggering songs about drinking laced with plenty of swearing, but the band look to be having a great time and it rubs off somewhat on the crowd. It’s a set that focuses on fun, and they’re surprisingly tight considering the number of members and their reasonably young age. The band will probably never to reach the heady heights of their American contemporaries, but it’s a safe bet they’ll win themselves a fairly big following and keep playing as long as the drinks are flowing and the fun times rolling.
The headline act tonight is Babar Luck, the King Prawn bass player who has forsaken a full band for himself and an acoustic guitar. Tonight he is accompanied by Captain Hotknives, an acoustic artist with a penchant for funny songs, playing bass guitar. Unfortunately I only saw a few songs of the Gangsta-Folk stylings as I had to catch the last train home, but Babar Luck is a really down to earth artist, doing things DIY and spreading his message of One Love far and wide. His sound takes in hip-hop, world music, folk, punk, ska and reggae to create a rich acoustic sound. I highly recommend checking him out if he’s playing near you.
So all in all a good nights entertainment, all for a good cause. For more information about the campaign Click Here
With that out of the way, lets move onto the first act of the night, Perkie. Billed as ‘Loungecore / PianoPunk’, I wasn’t too sure about this one, but it turned out to be a ‘stereotypical’ punk girl playing keyboard and singing bittersweet songs in a voice beautiful enough to melt a hardened critics heart, yet still with a raw edge. Subject matter ranged from love to conceptions of beauty to switching off the TV and going out to achieve your goals. A really good start to the evening!
Next up was Naomi Hates Humans, for me the weakest act of the night, although that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the set. Comprised of a drummer, bass player and Naomi on vocals and acoustic guitar, I’m not quite sure how to describe the music. She has a good voice on her, a bit gruff and gravely which adds some texture to the sound, but not many songs stood out for me. She never descends into usual singer / songwriter clichés with whiney love songs, a definite plus, and it was an enjoyable set, just not especially memorable in my opinion (but maybe that was due to the Guinness... Who knows).
The third act of the night was probably the biggest departure from the norm, a political hip-hop act from Sheffield, The Ruby Kid. This was a good set, and I can see The Ruby Kid being great with a fuller band, but tonight it was just him, his bass player, and an iPod to provide the backing tracks. He still showed himself as a thoughtful and intelligent rapper, the track ‘Art Versus Industry’ showcases some brilliant lyricism, and some spoken word by himself and some friends towards the end of the set showed he can still hold a good rhythm and flow without any other music to back him up.
The penultimate act is named Smokey B*****d (I can't link them due to the rudeness in their name, but I'm sure you can work it out and find them on MySpace). A celtic folk-punk band in the vein of Flogging Molly and The Dropkick Murphys, this lot are actually from Reading and have seven members playing all sorts of instruments; a fiddle, penny whistle, accordion, harmonica… as well as the usual suspects of guitar, bass, drums. It’s nothing new, swaggering songs about drinking laced with plenty of swearing, but the band look to be having a great time and it rubs off somewhat on the crowd. It’s a set that focuses on fun, and they’re surprisingly tight considering the number of members and their reasonably young age. The band will probably never to reach the heady heights of their American contemporaries, but it’s a safe bet they’ll win themselves a fairly big following and keep playing as long as the drinks are flowing and the fun times rolling.
The headline act tonight is Babar Luck, the King Prawn bass player who has forsaken a full band for himself and an acoustic guitar. Tonight he is accompanied by Captain Hotknives, an acoustic artist with a penchant for funny songs, playing bass guitar. Unfortunately I only saw a few songs of the Gangsta-Folk stylings as I had to catch the last train home, but Babar Luck is a really down to earth artist, doing things DIY and spreading his message of One Love far and wide. His sound takes in hip-hop, world music, folk, punk, ska and reggae to create a rich acoustic sound. I highly recommend checking him out if he’s playing near you.
So all in all a good nights entertainment, all for a good cause. For more information about the campaign Click Here