The Dogbones at the Rock & Roll Cabaret; The Purple Turtle, Camden
The Dogbones at the Rock & Roll Cabaret; The Purple Turtle, Camden Saturday 12th September 2009
Burlesque, and by association cabaret, is having a wildly popular and energetic comeback, with a ‘cheesecake sleaze’ aesthetic dominating the Pacific North West scene while here in the UK a more vaudevillian, Victorian approach seems to dominate. Yet the diluting of a novel post-modern movement can be a serious risk, with each new night being weaker than the last until the capital is awash with less than worthy simulacrums of a once smaller niche entertainment circuit.
And yet despite this risk, and despite only just celebrating its second anniversary, The Rock & Roll Cabaret hosted in Camden’s Purple Turtle put on a grandiose show, combining both kitsch and brazen burlesque with some absolutely fantastic unsigned acts, most prominent being Post Grunge act The Dogbones.
Arriving an hour or so into the night’s festivities I was lucky enough to stumble across the set of US/UK group Black Daniel. Brash, loud and with the stage presence to match, Black Daniel brought the night up a notch with their mix of garage, blues and noise rock gelled together smoothly through vocalist Craig Louis Higgins Jnr’s confident American crooning. Having toured with Kasabian last year and already seemingly on the edge of stardom Black Daniel pulled off a lively and powerful set, each song finding a new, dirtier sound than that of their recorded material.
With the crowd stirred up and ready for more, UK based indie act Joana and The Wolf did not disappoint in the slightest. Formed in London and fronted by Lithuanian singer Joana, J&TW are getting huge praise from critics, comparing Joana’s voice most obviously to PJ Harvey (with a dose of Patti Smith), which it uncannily resembles, though the vocalist adds her own haunting idiosyncrasies too. Also of note are the band themselves that through tight and creative compositions help distance their vocalist a little from the aforementioned comparison lest it overtake their own unique abilities, playing tunes as distinctive in sound as those of God Speed You! Black Emperor and The Yeah Yeah Yeah’s alike, making for an appreciative and responsive audience that were enthralled by the compositions that the band had to offer.
Joana and The Wolf
So rare it is to get three fine acts on stage at a gig (let alone a club night) that I feared the worst when The Dogbones finally arrived on stage, though these fears were swiftly blown away by the ferocity and charged performance of each song. Formed by current and former members alike of bands Wendykurk, QueenAdreena, Daisy Chainsaw & Medieval Baebes, The Dogbones play trashy and sleazy post punk with a strong dose of grunge in the mix and while the group are often pigeonholed as similar to QueenAdreena this mostly emerges from Crispin Gray’s talented guitar play as opposed to vocalist Nomi’s energetic and feverish stage presence, who, despite the comparisons to likes of Katy Jane Garside, easily conjures her own spirit on stage and will no doubt soon have a fervent and loyal fan following.
Thrashing about the stage floor as if in a trance, Nomi and the rest of The Dogbones managed to make the most of their small set, pulling out all the stops for a violently vigorous performance reminiscent of the gigs of old were you knew how good a time you had had by gauging how much blood had crusted into your clothes the following day. Indeed The Dogbones may have been misplaced in a Cabaret night as they where certainly more alt rock than rock & roll but the enthusiasm of the crowd would seem to prove otherwise, chanting for more after the band’s brilliant yet sadly (due to time constraints) ephemeral set.
Far from over, Rock & Roll Cabaret followed the musical acts with burlesque from the buxom brunette Sophia Rose, a young blood in the circuit but already etching a name for herself with hip shakes and tassel twirls that could take ones eye out, Platinum blonde femme fatale Chrys Columbine and seeming matriarch of the UK burlesque scene Tempest Rose. This combined with a surreal M.C armed with a hand puppet straight out of a Lynchian nightmare and some spontaneous outsider harmonies from a small Asian gentleman known as “Moe” made Rock & Roll Cabaret one of the better nights out in the Capital and for a measly five quid comes highly recommended while acts such as Joana and the Wolf and The Dogbones continue to perform.
Dogbones photo by Lucy Beach. Joanna photo from R&R Cabaret MySpace page.
http://www.myspace.com/thedogbonesuk
