Reviews

Following on from last week's slightly sub-par outing to launch 'new' nightclub Rogues, Gay Army were back to full firepower this week as they stormed through twelve prime slices of their synth based punk tinged indie rock.

Funkmeister Klank and Corproal Punishment.

Seemingly more at home in the more intimate surroundings of Pieces bar than they were in Rogues, Gay Army started as they meant to carry on with the opening salvo of 'Bullet For Me' and 'Graybar Hotel' pulling punters in the already packed bar even closer to the stage.

It was the band, however, who remained centre of attention all night as they all seemed to be at the most comfortable on stage I have ever seen them, with even the normally comparatively reserved bassist Funkmeister Klank making his presence felt in more than a musical way tonight.

The bands evident energy and enthusiasm certainly carried over into their spot on musical performance tonight as the set of tunes definitely came into their own. This is likely due to the fact that not only are they excellent tunes, but they are becoming more familiar to the regulars in the audience and that the sound tonight was perfect with both the bass and synth more pronounced than in the past so all aspects of the bands were clearly audible throughout.

Major Dirt and Rear Gunner Reilly.

The most impressive thing about the songs tonight though was that they seemed to include a few which stood out from the already stellar bunch, much like the big singles of chart bands do when they play live. The tracks that particularly stood out in this way were poppier number 'Radio On' and politico-punk stormer 'Cracked Amerika' which both could become huge songs on the local scene and hopefully beyond.

Another part of Gay Army's songs really coming into their own now is that the themes presented are becoming clearer, which shows the real talent of Rear Gunner Reilly as a lyricist. He manages to write both personally emotional and politically themed songs with the same energy and verve, while never falling into the trap of becoming whiney or preachy, or getting lost in a sense of over zealous anger.

Hopefully last week's show was just a blip on their battle plan, and when the band next return to a bigger venue they will be just as intense as they were tonight, because, based on tonight's performance Gay Army could be the next Guernsey band to make a splash in the bigger pond of the UK music scene.