Live Review from Underground 26:
Teen band, Hot Cakes on 55th, are making their full debut, just 3 weeks after settling on their currant (ho ho) line-up.. They’ve brought their own happy punters with them who are front and centre as Chris B. exhorts the crowd to “give them lots of luu-r-ve”!. The quartet are Adriel the Kid on bass/vox, Matt Patt on guitar, Dom the Drummer and Big Timmy on vox/guitar. He’s the local equivalent of Big John, former lead guitarist with Scottish punks The Exploited and later with Goodbye Mr. McKenzie – the same band Shirley Manson started with before becoming Garbage. HC55th are eclectic and have a good rapport with the crowd. They mash up drum/bass noise with orchestral-cum-space guitar noodling and throw a few blurt blasts of trombone into the mix. This is an Underground first. The trombone is played (you guessed it!) by Adriel. Shades of the early (now late) John Entwhistle on The Who Sell Out. .I can hear some Frank Zappa wit in the music construction. The 4th/final tune with its “I wanna go home” chorus rises from a whisper to a scream as the fans finally begin to mosh. Chris B thinks they show great potential. I think, even an acoustic set by them would be industrial strength.
Nick Lovatt
“Life is like the Underground. If you pretend you know what you are doing, girls will let you buy them drinks…or not in Adriels case”