The Heat
Suffrajets
Towers of London
The Underground, London
22 February 2005

Last night saw what was supposed to be a four bill gig to mark the end of much-hyped rockers Towers of London recent tour. Instead there were only 3 bands on and more the better for the audience. Quite unusually for this reviewer, I actually got to see two bands I have never seen before that were actually rather good.

First up where The Heat, a three-piece who play with lots of passion and a wee bit of angst. I am guessing this lot are what Charlie (ex-Busted) wanted to do with his new, critically panned, band. Even if the songs weren't any good, they show energy this young mob show is amazing. The Heat's drummer is a complete and utter freaking nutter who, John Bonham style, attacks his drums with absolute ferocity. No wonder he is so damn scrawny. This lot are one to watch and probably won't be an opening band for long.

Next up were Suffrajets, with ex-Babyshambles (aka the Pete Doherty late of the Libertines solo band) Gemma on drums. As you can see from the live picture, these girls are not only pretty damn good looking but have oddles of stage prescence. Also important is the fact they actually play their instruments rather well. Their music is a mixture of punky angst numbers and more straight-ahead rock music. Gemma sister in rock, Alex, is the brunette on guitar, who has got a set of pipes on her that can really wail. Gemma, like the drummer from the Heat, is an enthusiastic sorts that really goes after the drums with Tommy Lee like ferocity. They are getting noticed for good reason and are no doubt heading for bigger things, including recording their new album in the next few months. Hey you don't have to take my word for it, Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden and Icelandic Air) seems to like them enough to have them on his radio show.

Last on was the highly (over-) rated Towers of London or at least on last night's showing. This lot seem to have realised that Hurricane Party got picked up by John Kalodner at Sanctuary and decided to have a go themselves. Much less tuneful that HP, they set did little to impress. They have the look of sleeze rockers but their tunes do not really merit much at the moment. I was so underwhelmed I didn't even manage to take a decent picture of them. The got the 'tude and the looks now it might be a good idea to have some decent songs.

Still, it was a good night of non-major label rock & roll. The kinda of gig that puts a smile on your face. As Dave and I left the Underground, we both knew that one of this lot are going make it big someday. I know who I am betting on...