Reviews

The Golden Lion has become known for having one of the most unpredictable crowds in Guernsey, and tonight it proved that more than ever.

Tonight's gig featured three bands who all fall into the somewhat loose genre known as punk, though, as has been said many times, that doesn't mean that they share much either musically or stylistically.

Stuart of Poor Attempt.

First up were American style pop-punkers Poor Attempt, who, over the past year, have built up quite a following with their summery punk-lite anthems. Tonight however they were somewhat out of their element playing to a more grown up crowd than usual and, while under 18's (and a few of us older folk) may revel in the light hearted fun nature of their tunes, The Golden Lion on a Friday evening isn't the ideal audience.

That being said the band still sounded great and their songs bring to mind The Ataris and Blink 182 in their prime while the band continue to improve with every performance. Tonight however they were never going to win with the general crowd attracted by the venue.

Following Poor Attempt the pub continued to fill up in time to witness the last ever appearance by hardcore merchants Vietnameasles. Blasting through almost their entire repertoire of chaotic noise the band played their tightest set ever, well for the first half of at least.

Andy of Vietnameasles.

As the set progressed things began to take on the more familiar tone as the bands sound began to descend into total chaos and Andy and Ryan began to banter with the more 'exuberant' members of the crowd.

This with Vietnameasles though is part of their charm and by the end of the set they had once again proved why precision is not always the key to winning an audience and with a reworked version of 'Play Your Kurds Right' and a blasting rendition of 'Skint' they really went out on a high.

Finally on The Golden Lion's tiny stage came the old school punk stylings of Spat, who, for the most part of their sadly short set, seemed to be a bit bored of performing.

Lee and Jack of Spat.

This didn't stop some of the more eager crowd members starting up a particularly messy pit that at times threatened to send the PA, and several punters, flying over the bar.

It was when this sparse but eager crowd started to move that Spat seemed to be getting into the swing of things, but it was also at that point that pub management pulled the plug on proceedings leaving an air of unfinished business to the night.

When it was all said and done, the night undeniably belonged to Vietnameasles and it is a shame they won't be playing together anymore. However, Poor Attempt also put in a good show, doing their best against a less that enthusiastic crowd and Spat were Spat and as ever that was something people either seemed to love, or in the case of most tonight, be not so keen on.