We lost the skyline, we stepped right off the map / Drifted in to blank space, and let the clocks relapse

Friday 28 January - and it was a full turn out tonight to watch three bands that were entirely new to us. As an added bonus the bands were playing at The Duchess so there was decent beer on hand and a generally nice atmosphere. There have been a few alterations to the venue since we were last in, most noticeably the open area to the right, as you look at the stage, has been enclosed. It was a wasted area anyway, so no loss to the venue size.

Tonight’s first band were Sombre. I could only find two names, Luke Saxton and Robert Green, but there were three of them so I'm guessing that mystery man was the drummer. Anyway, they come from York and reminded me somewhat of an English Sigur Ros or Fleet Foxes, very much in the shoegazing genre which I do enjoy. The vocals were clear and the keyboards put to good effect as a background to the guitar playing. Just when they sounded as if they were beginning to sound a bit samey, they changed the tempo to round off thirty minutes of very enjoyable music. A great start to the evening and a band that I can highly recommend listening to.

Next up were Missing Kids, a two-piece that I assume come from the York area, as that's mostly where they seem to perform. Mr D'Mudie sings and play guitar, whilst Miss S'Anderson drums and provides backing vocals. The vocals were muffled, clearly they couldn't blame the sound system, their songs were full of dreary riffs and never went anywhere. It wasn't so much that the wheels came off, they were never on in the first place. It was a miserable set with pregnant pauses between each song punctuated by needless strumming.

We were hoping that the final band were going to lift the evening. The ABC Club (and on on FaceSpace), a 5-piece from Leeds with a fair bit of hype surrounding them. The band are; Zandra Klievens (vocals), Jordan Radcliffe (guitar), Jack Haigh (bass), James Burkitt (drums), David Barber (guitar). Musically they played well, Klievens came across as a bit 'Morrisey' with her thick sweater, arms behind her back, and motionless stance, but she sang well. The performance was strangely stilted. It appeared that the drummer and the lead guitarist were the only ones who actually wanted to be there, the rest just seemed to be going through the motions. When I judged them to be about half-way through their set, I nipped off to the toilet and when I came back they were gone! It seems that the rhythm guitarist had put his instrument down, the lead guitarist had flung his to the floor and they had all stormed off in a huff. All very unprofessional and I can only think that there is some unresolved tension within the band. Just a bit rubbish really.

So, a bit of a strange evening but we did get to hear one outstandingly good band, Sombre, so not a complete waste of time.