With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Last night finally had the pleasure of seeing a wonderful band from my old stomping ground of Uxbridge playing live. I have championed them before on this blog and their name is Colour Me Wednesday. More them later though as there were other acts on the bill too. This was the first time I had ever visited Wharf Chambers and I will definitely be back. It is a superb venue with a great stage area and a fab little bar. Not only that but it is the only place I have been where even drinking tea could be considered very rock ‘n’ roll!

First on stage was the delightful, quirky and very entertaining Elly Kingdon. The poster described her as ukulele folk from Stoke. That much is true but there was a spirit of punk too. Elly manages to effortlessly make songs about depression sound so happy and bouncy. That has to be therapeutic right? I suggest that you check this woman out on-line. She has talent and a ukulele! I loved Elly’s sign on the merchant table, it simply read ‘Elly Kingdon has no merch as she is not a sell out! What’s not to love about that?

Next up we’re Durham’s excellent No Ditching. A fine all girl five piece who incredibly were playing only their third gig! If that set and their demo CD (of course I bought it) are anything to go by these girls can go much further. The poster described them as Pop Punk from Durham which is a fitting description. But I suspect they have more than just pop punk if allowed to play and grow in the coming months. If they are appearing in your town then get out and show your support.

Next I must make an apology. The poster for the gig showed Onsind as second on the bill. Actually that was a typo and in fact they were top of the bill. Unfortunately having been able to see Colour Me Wednesday earlier than I expected I opted to avoid the last train from Leeds back to York. This meant I missed the whole of Onsind’s set. However after a brief chat with Harriet Doveton I decided to buy Onsind’s CD album Anaesthesiology. I have played it three times today and it’s bloody good. Especially ‘Pokemon City Limits’ with it’s wonderful ‘never trust a Tory‘ chorus. So Onsind please accept my humble apology I won’t miss you again, I promise. By the way your album will be on in the car again tomorrow!

So on to the band that brought me to this gig; Jen, Harriet, Sam and Carmela collectively known as Colour Me Wednesday. They certainly coloured this Wednesday with their perky, punky, poppy tunes. The poster described them as anarcho-pop from Uxbridge and that is certainly true. They played a great clutch of songs from their new album ‘I Thought It Was Morning’ most of which I’m sure you know because you’ve bought the album. What? You haven’t bought it yet? Why the hell not it’s a great album. Get off your bum and go and buy it now, and I do mean immediately! Just click here and do it! Anyway my favourites on the night were “You’re Not My Number One Bastard”, “Bitter Boys” and what in my opinion should be released as a single (again?) “Purge Your Inner Tory”. This song deserves to become a classic. I am so pleased that I finally got to see this band live and I hope to see them again soon. Drop everything, change all your plans, sell your granny, do whatever it takes to see them play.

All the acts who appeared have a great deal of talent and in a parallel universe where shit like the X Factor doesn’t exist they may already have become very succesful let’s hope they can do it in this universe. It’s on nights like this I really miss John Peel he definitely would have played all of tonights artists!