My thanks to Louisa Roach, singer/poet/guitarist/bandleader for the opportunity to see her award-winning four piece She Drew the Gun at Omeara in London Bridge tonight. The gig was one of the NME Awards Showcase events and marked the recognition of the band as one of our most promising acts.
Louisa began the performance with a crowd-capturing solo rap, which underlined her wit, strength of lyric-writing and captivating dockside delivery. The band (drummer Sian Monaghan, bassist Jack Turner and keyboardist Jenni Kickhefer), has also clearly stepped up a level from when I saw them in Hackney last year and the musicianship, stagecraft, visual presentation and sheer power of their collective playing was spellbinding.
Established favourites, such as Poem and their cover of Malvina Reynold’s No Hole in my Head (originally from 1965), are guaranteed crowd-pleasers, but the blend of early Floyd, Americana guitar, tasteful rhythms and atmospheric synth, gave all the songs from their extended album Memories of Another Future a new life and boundless energy.
The evening was kicked off by by the dynamic three piece feminist and post-punk influenced trio, Big Joanie, who rounded off an impressive set with their contemporary street-wise cover of TLC’s Scrubs.
Mark Batchelor and I then travelled to the West End just in time to catch the end of Pippa Gearing and Lizzie Deane’s set, as they performed songs from the shows and classic pop hits under the title ‘The Vignettes‘, at the Above The Arts Cabaret Club in Great Newport Street, WC2.
The two shows combined with a satisfying curry at Mango Indian, made for a very entertaining night out.
