POLVO- That's right, these guys have played their last show at the Cat's Cradle this past February. word has it so that Ash Bowie can devote more time to playing with Mary Timony and Helium
MILDRED PIERCE- These women from New Jersey do a great cover of "We are the Kids in America". named after a 1950's move, they pack a punch with strong vocals and guitar.
THE EVIL SUPERSTARS- of Limburg, Belgium are the answer to the question - What do you get when you mix the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion with Beck? The are also described as "sub-Beefheartean" by TIMEOUT. The exhibit great stage presences and senses of humor. RIF RAF calls Mauro Polawski "the Johnny Depp of Wahloon rock". Thrashing around on stage, he sends out lyrics like "kidnapping the girls from the local music scene... come on down if you want to have smart sex with a winner" from the single "Baby" out on March 16. Another great one is "Love happened today. I can't send a fax to your parents, but a sparrow named Clarence will come and sing to us...". These guys were hilarious at Water Rats in King's Cross.
THE GO-WHEELS- Scott Clise, Marc Sloop, and Matthew Levy mount a come back for this group with power pop tunes.
Harrison Haynes and Wells Tower from Hellbender team up with Dave Hollinghurst, formerly of Small23 to form a jazz band which has performed at openings such as ones for the Durham Arts Guild.
There were several blockbuster performances this winter starting with Stereolab at The Astoria (NME Awards Support Shows) with loopy jazz man Jimi Tenor from Finland, who sported an Elton John look. A very pregnant Laeticia still carried out faves like "Crest" and "French Disko".
Then also in December to commemorate the Mean Fiddler's 15th anniversary were the Buzzcocks, complete with old school punks with liberty spikes and boys in eyeliner bopping around to classic Diggle and Shelley songs like "Harmony in my Head" and "Orgasm Addict". One overly enthusiastic (drunk) fan kept leaping on stage, but the Buzzcocks, being nice guys, let him stay and sing along.
After that, The Cure fulfilled a couple of sold out gigs lined up on December 16 and 17 at the Empire Theatre (their only European dates). Robert Smith is still god with a largely new line up, except with the same bassist. They played the standards and their hearts out to old and new goths alike.
The Cure rocking out