More on: Boy Kill Boy

Date: 18/04/08
Rating:

So, it was time for the annual North London festival Camden Crawl. Nearly every bar and club opens their doors for 48 hours to thousands of indie boys and girls. From major artists such as The Wombats and Robyn to brand new up 'n coming acts like Vinny Vinny and Shut Your Eyes and Burst into Flames, there was at least something for everyone.

It's a pretty daunting task working out which act to catch first, with over 20 acts playing at the same time, scattered in every nook and cranny of the Camden area. It's reminiscent of Challenge Anneka, running down the streets of Chalk Farm with map in hand, asking any passers by where the Enterprise or Bullet Bar is located. Though being Camden, the passers by were anyone from Danny from Embrace to Julian from The Mighty Boosh. On finding your required destination, you're faced with queues after queues and with my luck, usually in the rain. On Friday it took a few hours to actually work out a game plan, realising that unless you were at the NW1 an hour before the band came onstage, its pretty pointless even trying to get in - many bars using a strict one in one out procedure. After waiting in the rain for over half an hour to see Shut Your Eyes And Burst into Flames at Oh Bar, it's pretty upsetting when on arriving finally into the venue, the band last just over a minute before vacating the stage. Next time then.

Having already missed Sam Sparro and Does It Offend You, Yeah? time was running out. So with some careful thought it was off to see The Wave Pictures and giving up any hope of seeing Operator Please. As one of the few British anti-folk bands, The Wave Pictures can take delight from the rising stock of their genre, with the new interest in The Moldy Peaches. Their wit rose to the occasion to a capacity crowd at The Crescent, with a great set that featured new single 'Love You Like A Madman' and crowd favourite 'Now You Are Pregnant'. They may be the most underdressed persons in north London, but what they lack in fashion they make up with the best banter this side of We Are Scientists and a pretty decent back catalogue of tunes that encourage many a singalong and a crazy middle-age lady to invade the stage for far too long for comfort.

As time was nearing the 10pm mark, there was one band in mind to see before the close of the first day - Los Campesinos! at The Enterprise. Though being rather impressed at making the trip from Mornington Crescent to Chalk Farm in under five minutes, it was deeply saddening affair when the venue's manager announced that it was at capacity and there wasn't a chance in hell of getting in. So back to the guide and more running and panic insued, eventually pulling in a few favours to made it into the Earl Of Camden in time to catch an on fire Boy Kill Boy. On the back of new album 'Stars And The Sea' and boosted by an extra guitarist, they played for their lives, literally. Without any security or barrier the crowd bounced back and forth off their idols - it's bizarre hearing a plea from Pete Carr to stop playing his keyboard. Tracks from their debut album 'Civilian' provoked a mess of flying limbs and sweat. 'Suzie' shall be blamed for a few elbows in the face, but the war wounds are a happy reminder of a great gig in such a small environment - the real plus of the festival is seeing established artists play in such small venues. Leaving the pub dazed, it was time to reflect and make a better plan of action for Saturday - four hours and only 2.1 bands just isn't a good enough turn over.

Francis Jolley

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