3 old gig reviews from 1999 - Intense Degree, Hoia, Red Bay, Esoteric, The Purple Monkeys, Wretch, Miscast

[it was all in one old Word doc dated 15th May 1999]

Intense Degree w/ Hoia, Mason’ Arms, 9^th April 1999

Hoia are a bit shit really. Boring indie toss. Less band, more bland. That’s about all the write up they deserve. 

   Intense Degree are great. I kinda know the bass player, Chel, having borrowed a shitload of cool records from him ages ago. Intense Degree are a cool hardcore band who recently reformed. They play ultra fast old school hardcore. They’ve released a few records, including a Peel Sessions album, but to be honest I don’t know that much about them, apart from the fact that they’re amazing live! {I later got to know the singer Dick, who was a bit of a legend]

Red Bay w/ Esoteric, Mason’s Arms, 2^nd April 1999

Both these bands cover the same ground. They both play songs by bands such as Silverchair, Coal Chamber, Cold, Deftones, that sort of thing.

   We came here to see Esoteric, featuring our mate Jamie on drums. They played reasonably well, and 3 of us decided to mosh! They played one song that they actually wrote, which was essentially Devil’s Haircut by Beck.

   Red Bay played a better selection of songs, and we moshed to them too. Not too much to report, really.

11^th Session Concert, Brunts School, 31^st March 1999

I was supposed to be playing here, but they wanted me to pay £10 for the privilege, so I didn’t. I was going anyway, though, as a few of my mates had bands playing here. I won’t mention the disasters that were most of the other bands. The first band that could actually play were The Purple Monkeys (name inspired by my incessant shouting of the word ‘Monkeys’ for several months). Despite playing some tolerable stuff, singer/guitarist John committed an offence punishable by death: forgetting the words to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’! 

   Wretch, the band I was supposed to be in, played quite well, Will proving to be a quality frontman, despite his own reservations. Looking like a mutant cross between Tarrie B and Marilyn Manson, he was the only person all night to talk to the crowd, and received a great response.

   Miscast were the last band on, and played some reasonable indie stuff. I thought their own stuff was better than most of their cover versions, and if they ever get signed, ‘Electric Chemistry’ is destined to become an anthem of some sort. Unfortunately, they were forced to cut their set, but shit happen when you mix with educational establishments.