King Hermit review from The Blag Club (London)

King Hermit part in bold.

I had a spare Friday night with a choice of 5 different bands on Myspace who wanted me to go see them in London none of whom I'd seen before. I ended up choosing this gig on the grounds that it was the only one I could walk to!! That said I arrived at what is now called the Labroke Grove Blag club that is actually on Kensal Road on the old Island in between the canals known as Portobello Dock that was owned by Richard Bransons father and might still be owned by the Branson family! This place has a different name every time I go to it, but still I got in just as the first band finished whoever they were, and seeing as the singers girlfriend turned up after me I guess they couldn't be that good!

Next on was Alex Konstonoplooosiosis or whatever the name on his mums t-shirt was, who was a folk singer whose set was a mix of covers and originals the covers that we were meant to sing a long to were by the sort of acts I don't listen to so don't know who they were by but would guess James Blunt, Paulo Nutini that sort of stuff and he did a very bad Elton John song as well, he was ok but not going anywhere, the
best thing he has going for him were the 3 girls who seemed to adore him!!

Next on and having come all the way from Coventry were King Hermit who are a typical bunch of Cov style cheeky Chappies making very catchy sing along indie who had managed to ensure half the audience were wearing there t-shirts! Yes they are very much a t-shirt band and had three or four witty designs. They opened with Bandits that seemed to be what some of the Cov contingent were accusing the bar staff of being charging them £4 for a bottle of cider, Fookin hell I could get two bottle for that back home style rantings!!

The first song that got there fans singing along was She's a Deceiver that has a big chorus and stomps along like it should have been in the charts in the early 90's and could give the Holloways a lesson or two on catchiness. Scare tactics could have been about how to get your mates to buy you more beer but I think was about what happens when everything goes to hell all at once, a good song that could well be a single, but no where near as much as Home Cooked Cookin' should be, this song was the highlight of the show and had almost everyone singing to it! a great song and it got a good cheer afterwards and its still in my head , they cooled down a bit with Fire When ready and finished the set with Home Sweet Homeless that was preceded with an announcement that this is there last british show before they go to New York next month to conquer the states!! Home Sweet Homeless should be played alongside The Loyalties Sofa Surfing UK as two songs that perfectly encapsulate the peripatetic nature of the touring musician. I want to see King Hermit again and in the not too distant future I hope.

Then it was time for Pandora, yes that's Pandora and not The Pandora's more's the pity as I'd love to see The Pandoras again if there ever sober and clean enough to perform that is!! Pandora who needed to be heckled to give us her name is a female fronted rock band who are in need of some advice on image and direction as the drummer and bass player seem to be styled on Edgar and Allen in The Lost Boys with the girl looking cool in a camoflage corset and tight jeans but with her voice they really ought to be a goth rock or moody goth band in a Mazzy star meets All About Eve style, not bad but I want to see them in a couple of years time when they have figured out what they really want to sound like.

Simon Phillips
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Well you seemed to ge the good part of that review, well done.

I do like his style as well.

always nice getting a positive review from a stranger, makes it all worthwhile!