I went along to the Ninetynine gig in Soho this afternoon, partly to see them and partly for the supports (it's always interesting to see what supports a band has in a different city).

The first band was meant to be a C86-ish outfit named Kicker; but they pulled out, and so were replaced by a band called The Projects. They were fairly typical indie-pop; guitars, keyboards (a Casio and, adding that particularly English touch, a Novation analogue synth), and punchy short songs with indie-pop sensibility. They were OK; pleasant enough, though they didn't stand out much.

Next up was a punky outfit named The Lollies. Comprised of two Canadians and an American who met up whilst in London, the band consisted of a punk rocker girl with pigtails, fishnets and a Powerpuff Girls T-shirt playing guitar (with lots of jagged chords), another girl in a white singlet playing bass (quite nimbly and melodically), and a guy with sideburns and black-framed glasses behind the drums. They were sort of power-pop, alternating between punk numbers and wry pop ballads (such as Office Romance); think something not far from Bidston Moss, perhaps. Anyway, I ended up shelling out the ten quid and getting their CD.

Then Ninetynine came on. They played with a 3-member lineup, without Iain (that's the anarchist hipster guitarist). They had a few technical glitches early on, and the PA/mixing was a bit muddy in places, but they rocked and the audience picked up on that, applauding wildly after each song. (Mind you, Laura said at the end of the show that about half the audience were from Melbourne.)

I did manage to get some photos (my camera sort of works), but this laptop's rather slow at editing them and it'd take me all night to get some thumbnails ready, and I'm too tired. Maybe later.

Posted by: idle | http:// | Wed Oct 30 11:28:06 2002

Nice Chalk Farm Road photo. I broke my arm there a few years ago...

Posted by: Matthew | | Sat Nov 9 15:38:16 2002

Hey. I'm the drummer from the Lollies. Glad you like the album. Just wanted to let you know that I don't wear glasses, black-framed or otherwise. I probably look like someone who would, though, and you're spot on about the sideburns. Anyway, cheers for writing nice things about us.

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Sat Nov 9 17:33:22 2002

Sorry, my mistake. Must have confused you with an archetype.

Great CD, by the way.

Posted by: beth | http://www.miaowthecat.com/blog | Thu May 1 15:05:16 2003

Hey, I play bass in Bidston Moss am excited to get a mention too! We played on the same bill as Ninety Nine a while back, they borrowed our drumkit, and it's never been quite the same. ;o) B

Posted by: acb | http://dev.null.org | Thu May 1 15:19:01 2003

Hey, nice blog. :-)

I believe I've got a Bidston Moss CD with your autograph and cat squiggle on it. Anyway, I can believe you about the drum kit.

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