Gorgonzola + Charlie Flesh + Lee Cooper - The Nell Gwyne, Portsmouth. 01/09/05.

The Nell Gwyne is a cosy little pub and tonight is home to several locals who would be here anyway and a few mates of the bands performing. The artists are tonight crammed in down one end of the pub up against the pool table but what the hell, it makes for a nice atmosphere as Lee Cooper takes to his stool with acoustic guitar and harmonica for company. Tonight he plays a couple of down tempo tunes, the kind of stuff you might put on late at night when you've just split up with someone and you've been on the whiskey. He has a fine voice and the tunes have a nice warm quality about them as mellowness descends on the pub.

Charlie Flesh on the other hand is a ball of pent up sexual energy as he strums away gurning like Mick Jagger on far too many drugs. He is entertaining to watch though and you half expect him to start strutting around the pub like Chuck Berry inbetween his stories of sex and lust; this is energetic acoustic rock with one foot planted in glam rock the other in classic rock n roll.

Tonight is the debut for Gorgonzola which must rank as one of the worst names in history but don't let that put you off this stripped down rock duo of Jason on guitar and vocals with Nick on drums. There are a few nerves on show but once they settle down it appears that what we have is some nice raw stripped back blues going on in the vein of The Black Keys meets The Kills.
The tunes have a nice groove and slightly improvised feel about them that keeps them on a nice edge as slide guitar gives way to some quirky vocals; you get the feeling that they are slightly held back by the sound limitations as Nick looks like he wants to really get into a heavy groove on the drums but holds off for fear of drowning Jason out. But I reckon stick them on a big stage and you'd have a pretty powerful and interesting addition to the current trend of rock duo's.