I spent a school night recently in the big smoke. I took a train from Ebbsfleet International Station to north-ish London and then tubed it to Camden Town. The reason for travel was to watch a few bands at the Electric Ballroom. I had a nice, but expensive, burger for dinner. I also bought two drinks and that came in at more than GBP20 in The Worlds’ End, I know I’m old but this seemed very expensive, I miss the days of drinks in the Officers’ Mess. The Electric Ballroom was a new venue to me and I liked it. There was plenty of space, the bars were large and one of them was sheltered around a corner, you could escape easily.
First up were Dark Divine, a band from Florida which isn’t their fault I guess. I enjoyed their music. The singer was a good frontman and worked the crowd well. They genuinely seemed to be enjoying themselves. The music was standard metal. The usual singer with a good voice doing growly stuff and the guitarist sand the deep growl. The lead singer was chatty with the crowd and really seemed to be enjoying the whole show so that was nice.
Second band was Enemy Inside which was our main reason for attending this gig.
I enjoyed their show. I felt it was, again, pretty standard metal. It was good fun although part way through I needed to move to the bar so I could rest my back. The damn muscles in my lower back have been painful for about two weeks now and standing watching a show was not helping. Enemy Inside were good enough for me to seek out their music on iTunes and pay for some albums. I’ll put it on when I’m working.
The headliners were Smash Into Pieces. Smith and I weren’t that bothered about watching them but we stayed for a couple of songs. To be honest it was nice to have an evening out and still get home at a sensible time which meant I wasn’t absolutely fucked for work the next day. Yes, I understand that makes me old, but that’s where we are in this life so far.
Smash Into Pieces seemed reasonably heavy to start. The guitars were pretty cool. But I have some observations. . . . The drummer wears a mask – whoopee do, seen it before. Some people in the crowd thought it was really cool. I didn’t care particularly. The light show was pretty cool with lasers and shit, again the youngsters seemed impressed. The singers voice was really weird. I did not like it. It grated. I listened to some songs when I got home to see what the rest of their produce was like and it was a lot more keyboardy and less heavy. The singers voice still grated and that’s a big no-no for me. It’s a bit like Muse – I’ve tried to listen to their stuff, really tried and I should like it – but I can’t cope with the voice. This band’s live voice was not good. Maybe he’s having a bad night but it was poor.
Overall, I had a good evening. Good company, Smith, nice food in my current dieting time of life and a couple of bands I really enjoyed in a new venue, in bed before midnight. Worth it.
