The Vale Lounge 10/4/06 - The Brigade, Signals, Acute Riot, Rocketfox

Dark, muffled and slightly dreary, the Vale Lounge is a poky little venue that isn’t without its charms, especially when contrasted with the gin mill below.

Kicking off the night’s bill was a band either called The Bridge or The Brigade, I never did quite find out but they seemed to be of Polish origin. Despite the female duo on lead vocals being a little stage struck, the three backing musicians played well and tight, making them easily the best players of the night. Musically they veered from a sun-kissed indie pop sound to a slight Veruca Salt edge on other tracks. I enjoyed their set.

Signals however were an embarrassment to watch, a mix mash of heavy metal and garage punk that never went anywhere, and their singer kept acting like a complete tube, which didn‘t aid to endear them to my bosom either. Stalking behind and jumping over women as they tried to get to the toilet by the stage was a pathetic sight to see and I was glad when they’d wrung their final note and fucked off.

Behind the Bridge or Brigade was Acute Riot, the other great act of the night. The band had a limp start with a rocker that sounded too much like the Artic Monkeys but soon they were playing a mixture of traditional indie rock with a couple of iron hard grunge numbers that resembled Led Zeppelin on steroids. Good stuff.

Whilst Acute Riot knew how to rock, Rocketfox only knew how to whimper. A rather pathetic set of Green Day rock via the Busted poses manual ended the night on a sour note, but after a while away from checking out local acts it was good to see that there is still some good talent secreted away amongst the dregs.