O'death at the 100
My quest for good value live music took me to the 100 Club to see a band with a fascinating billing: "Expect five guys with maybe three shirts between them…they weld together bluegrass, country, folk and punk…howling and stomping…into an unholy spiritual throw-down."
With a billing like that and a name like "O'death", I didn't quite know what to expect. But it sounded intriguing.
The promoters go by the name of "Not The Same Old Blues Crap" - they promote 'hard rocking, punked-up, blues mayhem' in a variety of London venues. (Full listings can be found on their MySpace site.)
I arrived at the 100 Club and found a smallish crowd and, with the house lights full on, it's clear that the club could do with a bit of make-over. But the fact that it's looking a bit worse for wear was soon forgotten when the lights dimmed and the band took the stage.
And the howling stompfest began. If you can imagine all the crazy hillbillies from the film Deliverance - and they turned out to be great musicians and formed a band while high on Moonshine, then you would have O'death. Beards and checked shirts were the order of the day, but most of the shirts were soon off as the stage soon became sweatier than a backwoods swamp in a Louisiana heatwave.
The songs were a swirling, irresistible combination of Cajun-country-bluesy-punk. There was a demon electric fiddle player and all five members of the band seemed to get involved in the raucous vocals. Every now and then the drummer stood on his drum-stool and towered over the band loudly reinforcing intro and chorus vocals while urging the crowd to join in. Even though the crowd was not large, the front of the stage became a stomping hoe-down of a mosh-pit. Fantastic.
This was hugely entertaining stuff and would be even better with a larger crowd. I think the band have since gone back to the USA after also playing a few festivals in the UK as part of their European tour, so we'll have to wait a while before seeing them again. They have two albums available, so I'll have to pay a quick visit to my local CD store. It will be interesting to see if they can capture the wild excitement of the live show on CD...
For more information, check out: http://www.odeath.net/.
The promoters go by the name of "Not The Same Old Blues Crap" - they promote 'hard rocking, punked-up, blues mayhem' in a variety of London venues. (Full listings can be found on their MySpace site.)
I arrived at the 100 Club and found a smallish crowd and, with the house lights full on, it's clear that the club could do with a bit of make-over. But the fact that it's looking a bit worse for wear was soon forgotten when the lights dimmed and the band took the stage.
And the howling stompfest began. If you can imagine all the crazy hillbillies from the film Deliverance - and they turned out to be great musicians and formed a band while high on Moonshine, then you would have O'death. Beards and checked shirts were the order of the day, but most of the shirts were soon off as the stage soon became sweatier than a backwoods swamp in a Louisiana heatwave.
The songs were a swirling, irresistible combination of Cajun-country-bluesy-punk. There was a demon electric fiddle player and all five members of the band seemed to get involved in the raucous vocals. Every now and then the drummer stood on his drum-stool and towered over the band loudly reinforcing intro and chorus vocals while urging the crowd to join in. Even though the crowd was not large, the front of the stage became a stomping hoe-down of a mosh-pit. Fantastic.
This was hugely entertaining stuff and would be even better with a larger crowd. I think the band have since gone back to the USA after also playing a few festivals in the UK as part of their European tour, so we'll have to wait a while before seeing them again. They have two albums available, so I'll have to pay a quick visit to my local CD store. It will be interesting to see if they can capture the wild excitement of the live show on CD...
For more information, check out: http://www.odeath.net/.
Here Is The Writer : Lucho Payne
Lucho Payne works at UBS as an IT Consultant, and has spent the last eight years working in banking and investment management in The City. He regularly attends gigs and concerts, and his favourite venues are the Astoria, Borderline and the 100 Club. He occasionally plays guitar at various venues around town as one half of the acoustic duo "Fagan and Payne".
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