| when Barnet said he was doing a club we knew it would
be a party, bound to be. the first London Callin was held on Saturday
June 9th we were at a gig in West London so missed that one. heard it was dead
brilliant tho... On the tube coming back from Respect Festival we met a
girl who'd gone, she said it was ace! the second one was this weekend Friday
August 17th and it was, indeed, a completely rock and roll friday night
explosion. a punky reggae, rocktastic, skanktabulous old-skools-out disco with excellent
live entertainment from the bands and djs and the atmosphere of a proper party due to the
complete mix of people in the club and the great tunes.
the dance floor has a high tiny stage in the corner, the audience can also go upstairs,
this floor hangs just above the heads of the band - the feeling that everybody in the room
is almost on the stage. there's a bar room with chairs n tables for socialising in too.
also, there was bog roll all night too.
London Callin got the thumbs up from our mates who went. See ya at the
next one? For information on that contact londoncallin@hotmail.com |
| Friday evening started in Tin Pan
Alley, about an hour before the doors opened, Barnet and The Duvals are in the street
after soundcheck Barnet is waiting for the records to turn up.The Duvals are being whisked
by photographer, Andy Willsher, past Soho junkies on the corner of Tottenham Court Road to
the empty fountain opposite The Astoria to take some photos of them. From there they jump into their tour van and drive to the BBC studios in
Marylebone High Street. London Live Drive Time Show are doing an interview with them
before tonight's show.
The Duvals have bought a cassette tape with them, which they insert into the radio in the
reception of the BBC and tape the Backstage Pass interview. Some of "Newington
Green" gets played then, in the background, "Punk City" while Andrew, Howie
and Paul have a quick chat on air, at the end of which the presenter turns "Punk
City" up loudly just as they sing "London You Big Beautiful Slut..." Then
the programme ends. Now that's how to end the drive time show on London Live!
A couple of hours later we are all shuffling into the 12 Bar Club,
lots of friendly faces, some familiar, everywhere. The dance floor is full and Jesse James
are about to go on stage and blast out skapunk rock. Well the guitarist is actually on the
dance floor as there isn't enough room on stage, but thats the beauty of this venue. The
surreal mosh-pit-in-the-pub atmosphere that has made the 12 Bar a legendary Soho venue...
Jesse James were great, raucous and lively. Lovely blokes too,
they'd laid down horns on The Duvals album "Beauty" only a couple of weeks. It
was a full on House Of Rock night out and they went down a treat. So did The Duvals. And
some. Even the fact that one of them was banned from the club and another had a bust up
just before they went on only added to the wild west lunacy of their set. A large bottle
of ouzo and one of vodka mix were passed around the dancefloor which turned into a pogo
fest while people hung from the upper floor over the stage or climbed in front of the
stage up to the floor above. And the band played on, and by the end of the encore the
place was a hot, sweaty mess.
It didnt stop there either thanks to some excellent DJing, classic
tune followed classic tune and the bands had upped the rock and roll party atmosphere.
London Callin's got one of the best vibes around. We're already looking forward to the
next one.
minxy |
London
Callin'