Little London + Dragon Eye Morrison + Hellcyon - The Thursday Thing @ The Registry, Portsmouth. 18/05/06.

With a Friday night away from my usual Messclean jaunt looming due to work and my good lady having a load of her friends round for a 'musical' night (yep, they all watch a musical and sing a long!), tonight's fine line-up offered me a chance to get my weekly dose of 'local' bands and what a line-up it is too!

Hellcyon are clinging to a thread between being comical and awesome and it says something about the band that they bring a stupid grin to your face for most of the set yet leave you with the feeling you've just seen a first class band with amazing songs and you don't think they are a joke. Hellcyon combine huge slabs of 70s classic rock with the crunch funk of early Chili Peppers and time changes galore just to keep you and the band on their toes, in front of us we have a camp looking cowboy, a 70s rock band casualty, some strange effort at what could be a cave man and then you have frontman Pedro, a pint size Anthony Kiedis stripped to the waist and wearing a large tartan skirt that looks like it could have belonged to an OAP just hours ago. The small stage area can barely contain the band as they throw rock star poses and Pedro prowls back and forth like a caged animal while they let slip big chunks of rock music that delight and please the amassed throng of long haired reprobates that stand just an inch away from the band. A real triumph for Hellcyon tonight and an example of fine showmanship.

With a stand-in drummer (well done Mark Denney!) Dragon Eye Morrison could be forgiven for taking their foot off the gas tonight and playing it safe. But safe doesn't suit DEM, so it's straight in with their full on sensory attack and you really wouldn't notice that the drummer has had hardly any time to learn the material. DEM are brutal, an acquired taste some might say, but their is beauty lurking within the twisted carnage they create; it may be a twisted metal, face stripping acidic beauty, but it's there under Adams throat ripping excesses and the sharp guitars that stab you in the ears and the manic drums that strive to keep up through the tumbling remains of the songs. DEM are an exercise in restrained punishment, pushing you to the edge but never losing control and it's always a spectacular sight to see them in full on laying waste mode and tonight they do it supremely well and end by ripping Helter Skelter to bits and leaving the remains screaming in our ears.

Which leaves us with those damn sexy rock n rollers Little London who are back amongst us after a few months away and a few personal problems that nearly saw the end of the band, but luckily for us they saw the light through the bottom of a bottle of Jack Daniels and have surfaced for air and I for one am glad they did because I love this band, pure and simple. If there was one band I could watch week after week it would be this lot with their excellent tunes. It's been said before that LL take slices of The Wildhearts, QOTSA, Turbonegro, Therapy? and all those other bands that just play it straight down the line and have created themselves quite a rock n roll beast. No need for bullshit, just plug in, turn it up and let it rip with tune after tune of catchy as fuck dirt rock with a hint of metallic power and melodies that whip the ass of Ginger and shove a finger up his nose. Quite excellent though it wasn't loud enough tonight, but a minor gripe as the tracks old & new sounded as good as ever, so someone out there, take a chance on them, stick them on tour and let them drink & fuck themselves silly, you won't regret it. Guaranteed to go down a storm with rock crowds and ladies!

The night is rounded off in true style with a free meat raffle and it's probably just as well I didn't win a lump of beef as I'm not sure what Mrs.Grebo the vegetarian would have made of that when I staggered through the door!