The only band of these three that I had heard until this night was Swedish Funhouse who were, unlike what I'd thought, pretty familiar to the London audience. I didn't think any of the small Swedish goth bands were known outside of Sweden, but I was proved wrong. A Londoner two seats away from me bore a Malaise T-shirt.
First out was a local band named LEiSURE HiVE who played some kind of noisy bassline driven gothic rock. The band is a three piece and consists of one male and two females; the guy on vocals/guitar and the gals on violin and bass. I think this band was the most interesting band this night, although some of the songs felt a little bit too repetitive. Apparently they had just released their debut CD, or so I heard. I was too busy holding my good seat throughout the night to notice the CD/merchandise sales going on in the back of the bar.
After a 5-minute break British Die Laughing entered the stage. According to the vocalist, a big woman with a wonderful voice, this was the band's 7th anniversary and apparently they've released a number of CDs that I've missed completely. As for if I have really MISSED them I can't tell from this gig. Just like the Leisure Hive's violin was too low in the mix, so was Die Laughing's guitars. All I could make out from the two gents guitarwork was fuzz and humming, even though there seemed to be lots of interesting things going on on the guitar necks. I don't know if this was the reason or if it was just the band, but after three songs I'd had enough and hoped they get off stage soon. But they played a seemingly endless number of songs, but really a few good ones, before they finally gave place to Funhouse
Funhouse is a band that, like the name suggests, really is about fun. The band's main lyrical theme is obviously the singer's ex-wife (poor girl :D).
This band broke the night's trend of drum machines and programming and went on stage with a traditional rock line-up consisting of 2 guitarists, one bassplayer and a real drummer (so they actually DO exist?).
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