Neither of these bands were on the original bill for tonight's gig. Joana & the Wolf were added last week and Bleech today or yesterday. Meanwhile I was planning to see the Genies at the Bullet Bar (not a great venue); yesterday they had to cancel and I looked at other things on tonight. I seriously considered the Johnsons at the Fox and Firkin in Lewisham, but it is a real struggle to get there without driving. It was quite late in the day whwn I realised that Bleech and Joana & the Wolf were both playing, and it became an obvious choice. It turned out that I knew the drummer in the Jarmeans? as well and ran into Paul from the Hyenas and Pedro the producer. The bands were all good as was the Guiness. I seemed to chat to a lot of people which was nice, but felt by the end that I may have been rambling on rather. Bleech disd a couple of new songs which seemed to work well. Joana & the Wolf told me their gig at the Dublin Castle, before christmas (which I missed as I was in Oxford) was particularly good. As I look forward through my diary I see that it's not uncommon for two bands I know to be playing on the same bill, such as Kaputt and the Berettas at the Barfly and Ghostcat and Kasms in Kilburn.

Having been named as Wildblanket's tip to succeed in 2009, Bleech have a lot to live up to :-) Tonight it turns out to be a competition - battle of the bands if you will. It is however at the top end of this genre. Judging is by an industry panel and they seem to be someone from the BBC and someone from Artrocker. The panel point out the foolishness of such competitions (how would you choose if it were the Beatles and the Velvet Underground playing tonight), before choosing Bleech to proceed to the next round where they do not expect to meet the Beatles or Velvet Underground. In fairness I only saw one of the other bands and they were ok, so I can't really judge the standard of the competition, but Bleech played well and the experience they are gaining by playing several times a week, every week, is evident. It's nice to get out again.

This ia a late gig, first band at 12.00 and Bleech are on at 1.30am. On a normal busy week I might have given it a miss, but there are virtually no gigs between Christmas and New Year, and I don't have to get up for work for a week or so. I nearly saw the Males a couple of years ago when they supported a band I knew, but I went to a different gig that night. I added them as friends on myspace at that time, and thus have watched as they changed band members and played gigs around Cambridge, but I don't think they have played London since. I'm not sure but I think 2 of the 4 current members were in the original band. So it was tempting to catch this rare London show. Then Bleech were added to the bill which made the gig compelling.The promoters play with the light in what can only be described as a drunken manner. With no obvious connection with the music of either band it is rather distracing for the audience. I just give up and use flash and add some strobing at appropriate points of Bleech's set. If I carried a big torch I could provide better lighting than many London venues!
The night bus isn't full even though it's Saturday night, and thus the journey home is relatively quick.

Although very convenient, I've never been very fond of the Metro - mainly due to badly deployed lights and lack of proper beer. Bleech however have taken to the venue and played some good gigs here. It seems to be a venue where their crowd turns out in force and like tonight it makes for a good evening.  The Metro is closing within the month to make way for the crossrail development of Tottenham Court Road. This will be a pity but at least it's for a better cause than most venue closures. So in my book the Metro goes out on a high note.

A 'Turning Worm' night. Turning Worm puts on quite a lot of gigs and a lot of them feature Bleech (there are other bands that appear nearly as often). This is not a bad thing, but rather unusual. I've been down with a cold this week, so this is just the sort of relaxed gig I need.

The band before Bleech are bathed in light, but during the changeover the lights go out. The soundman fiddles rather unconvincingly with the sockets into which they are all plugged. I am sure a fuse has gone as the air conditioning has also gone off. Fortunately I have seen and photographed Bleech enough that it does not spoil my evening. I even provide some appropriate strobing with my flash during parts of their set. Some of the audience thank me for this later.
In the darkness I have a look at the next band who are called JAR, this is their first gig. Musically I wouldn't have guessed, although it shows a bit physically. They later said it wasn't a bad thing that the lights had gone as this meant the crowd couldn't see how scared they were ! The crowd seemed to enjoy their set and I was impressed. Definitely a band to watch. I've had a good year with seeing bands' first gigs - Jar, Rubella, the i hearts, and I think Vulgarians. All bands I hope to see more of next year.