Tonight the first band is Pellet. Now singer/bassist Geoff I recognise as he used to play bass with Zelda's World faves The Day I Snapped. (I also recognise the guitarist although not from a previous band, *see story below!) Pellets first song is sung by the guitarist who has an incredibly growly voice that gives me a sore throat just thinking about it. The music is fast and aggressive with relentless drums and grumbly bass. Geoff takes over most of the vocals from here and his voice is equally growly but with the added bonus of sounding as if he's very on the edge, some might even say insane. Especially after his song introductions, "This song is about Stalinism. (Pause) It is! Hahahahaha!". As the set progresses it becomes apparent that they do have some slower, more melodic songs too, one in particular that starts with a kind of jazzy introduction that builds up and has a great guitar bit that sounds like a swarm of killer bees. Indeed.

Next band is Barefoot who kick off with one of my favourites from their early recordings, 'Stand Alone'. They follow this up with two of their most recent songs, 'Ten Past Broken' and 'Stop!' not quite in their usual beat-perfect style but the quality of these new songs still being quite obvious. Still in their inimitable style though is their patter. This time it's Chris who's on the receiving end of Andy's slagging and just after their brand new song, as two girls pass where the band are playing deep in conversation from the ladies to return to the bar, Chris says something about all the conversations being in the ladies tonight. The self-absorbed girls remain oblivious to the fact that he's talking about them and that everyone is looking at them. He then adds "and it's still going on!" and everyone laughs and still they remain deep in conversation. Priceless.
They continue through the blistering 'Deceive Me', 'Different Town', pause to check when the bar closes, confirm there's still time to get pissed (we're way ahead of you there!) and finish off with 'Iron Sky'. Not technically their best performance, nor is West 13th the most suitable live venue, but it all combines to give you the kind of night you'll still remember when they're playing better and in bigger venues.