Pinch, Strange Days, 20th February

Strange Days is the new 60s/indie pop night from the guys behind Star Shaped (which I have yet to get to).

It’s a monthly event at The Garage and we went along to the launch which was free to create a bit of hype. It was pretty much exactly what it says on the tin and if you’re a fan of the indie from yesteryear then you will absolutely love this night. The tunes were strong from the get-go and we danced and pogoed all the night through.

The one thing I would say is that in terms of recent indie music, there was a dearth. Tame Impala somehow snuck in but they were the only recent tune I can recall hearing and I thought it might have been because the song they played (Elephant) sounds very 60s anyway.

The only thing was that it was fairly empty – if you could have taken the crammed and sweaty vibe of Des Was a Bowie and swapped it for the crowd here, it would have made for a perfect night.

Pinch

Before heading over, we stopped in the very lovely, very charming Pinch, tucked on a side street way off the Kingsland Road stretch. It is well worth making the journey though. We arrived not too long before it shuts at 10:30/11ish and were welcomed in by the girl behind the bar who asked us what kind of flavours we fancied and made some perfect suggestions, before chatting to us about where we were going and what good places there were to go in the area. There were a couple of other couples in the place besides us, but it’s small so it didn’t feel empty. I think if this were my local you’d hardly ever get me out of it. It feels very different to Sager + Wilde, which up until now I would have said was my favouite wine bar, but I had an instant affinity with it. Sometimes things just click between you and a place. I can’t wait to bring my fellow wine lovers here.

Friday I'm in Love, 30th May

Friday I’m in Love is a singalong clubnight. Yes, you heard me. It’s a clubnight that has taken the fact that once everyone gets pissed we all sing along to the songs we know anyway, and turned that into its raison d’etre. They promise indie and pop anthems that you probably know the words to anyway, but in case you don’t they’re either projected somewhere or, in this case, you’re given a songbook as you go in. The music is courtesy of a live band, one or more of which also does a bit of singing so it’s not solely down to the crowd.

Predictably, what with being ‘anthems’ there was more than a little cheesiness to the song selection – more in fact than I appreciated. Stuff like Abba and Queen, and ending with Oasis. But it was as I had expected so I can’t complain too much. The event I attended was a Camden special raising money for Amy Winehouse’s foundation so, again as expected, there was a healthy dose of Winehouse songs throughout the evening (big thumbs up). First, we had a performance by the Drag Queens The Buffalo Girls who started with Valerie, and also did the Sugababes’ Overload. And yes, these were all in the songbook for everyone to sing along to as well.

David McAlmont was also a special guest singing one of his own songs and then an Amy Winehouse and then he came back to the stage later to guide us all through another one later as well. I absolutely loved his and Bernard Butler’s one hit wonder Yes when I was but a girl so I got a big kick out of seeing him. He is such a dapper gent with a great voice.

Then we all just ploughed our way through the songs for the night, singing as loudly as you dared because that was what everyone else was doing. No need to feel shy. You didn’t have to put your heart and soul into it if you didn’t want. There was more than a few (men, mostly) standing practically motionless, almost as if they were paying no attention to the music, but they were mouthing the words just the same. In fact, this crowd singing, I decided, was a little too anonymous for me. I like the attention you get from karaoke! And, in some ways, the night felt a bit like a vehicle for the band members who were miked up and singing along.

Then, after an encore that wasn’t in the songbook, the singing part of the night came to a close, just about in time for people to get the last tube if they ran. For me, this is when the night really came to the fore as they then just played a bunch of indie and RnB songs for the rest of the evening. What an awesome selection. I would come to this night again simply for the afterparty. We moshed to Nirvana’s Lithium, bopped to The Strokes’s Last Nite, and shook it like it was a polaroid picture to Hey Ya! I really didn’t want a late night as I was travelling the next day and kept thinking of leaving, but we were doing that 'oh, after this one we'll leave' thing for at least four songs before I was finally like, I must go home!

A different take on an indie pop night that works well and clearly has a bit of a following. I'd go again.

So Tough So Cute!, 20th December

So Tough, So Cute play indiepop and pop punk but with a focus especially on girl groups and female music. They were playing their LAST EVER night in London just before Christmas so of course I had to make a special effort to go. It won't be their last ever event - but all the others will probably be happening in Sweden and that's a little bit further than I'm willing to travel.

It took place in the Macbeth, a pub I hadn't been to before, but which I really liked. It's quite out of the way, so not really the kind of place that gets passing traffic. Which might explain why, at 11 pm, it was practically empty. Or, it could possibly have been that the annual Christmas migration had started. Either way, when we got there we weren't entirely sure whether the night had actually started or not.

I thought it probably had though, judging by the music being played, and as more people turned up and some started making tentative steps on the dance floor, we finally started to feel like we were in the clubnight I was expecting it to be, rather than just a nice pub that had good music. 

And the music was good. They played quite a few Smiths songs, a bit of The Cure but there was also a definite favouring of girl bands and artists that you don't get so much on other nights. The Runways were played. No Doubt's 'Just a girl' followed Sleeper followed Elastica. It was nice to hear some female-centric music as there's some really good stuff out there. And then they played Trouble by Shampoo. I did say 'some' really good stuff. By 2 am when the night was over, we'd all been dancing for a good couple of hours and weren't ready for the night to end. It would have been great if they'd had extended opening hours considering it took so long for the night to get going.

Despite having a really good time there and liking the music, there are other nights around to fill the void So Tough So Cute will leave (like Blow Up or Great Big Kiss) so even though it is a shame to lose a good night playing good music, I'm sure London will survive. Malmo probably needs them more than we do. Farewell and good luck So tough!

Scared to Dance, 12th May

Is it me (and please tell me if it is) or is there a dearth of good indie nights happening at the weekend? And I said good indie nights. Not nights that play nothing but "indie anthems" like Wonderwall and Mr Brightside, or nights where you're likely to hear Here Comes the Hotstepper following Common People (I'm looking at you The Borderline, The Roxy). 

And then I heard of Scared to Dance. Not by scouring the Net looking for indie nights, but because I happen to follow Robin Ince on Twitter. And he happened to be doing a guest DJ spot one week and mentioned it. A little investigation and I thought this might be just what I was looking for. 

Scared to Dance happens twice a month at either The Albany in Great Portland Street or King's Cross Social, in well, King's Cross. They say they play indiepop, post-punk and new wave. If you follow them on Twitter you'll also learn that they're particularly fond of The Cure, The Smiths and Dexys. So far so good. They also take requests in advance of the night. Very democratic. 

So I finally managed to make it to one of their nights this weekend, at The Albany. They often have guest DJs and this week it was the turn of Sean Price from Fortuna Pop (who have The Pipettes and The Temper Trap on their roster). The Albany itself is quite a nice pub, and there is a downstairs room where Scared to Dance takes place. Scared to Dance started at 9 but we wanted a few drinks before going down there to give it time to warm up. As we drank we tried to keep an eye out on how many people were going downstairs, to gauge how busy it was and when we should move on down. At about 10:30 we popped a head down to see who was down there. Very few people. We asked the guy on the door what the deal was and he said that often people from the pub come down there when the pub shuts, but that normally Scared to Dance has its own contingent who turn up and fill the place out. But for some reason this hadn't happened this week. We went back upstairs and had another drink and then decided we'd go down no matter how empty/full the place was. 

By the time we went downstairs there definitely was an improvement, but you couldn't really say the place was pumping. All the seats were taken, and there were a few people bopping about. In due course people did filter in from upstairs when the pub shut and there were definitely a few there who I thought were probably regulars and made no bones about showing their love for the music through the medium of dance.

Ah - the music... the music I thought was great! On their website they give you a taste of the kind of music you'll hear. They're quite the music connoisseurs and I was a little worried I might not know much of what they played on the night (although I do like to discover new stuff). I need not have fretted. There was a good mix of stuff I knew - such "indie bangers" as Blur's Boys and Girls and The Cure's The Lovecats were interspersed with other stuff I didn't recognise but that kept me swaying and that I would like to get to know better. It was just the right balance and exactly what I had hoped it would be.

Unfortunately, the place never really felt like it got going and what could have been an "amazing" night was only a "good" night due to a lack of atmosphere. Maybe I was just unlucky and this was an off night; I do get the feeling from their website that they're well established and they do attract some interesting guest DJs. It feels like there's a lot of potential here, if only all those people out there craving a good indie night (I'm sure you exist in your droves) had descended upon the place. And the entry is so cheap - £6 or you can sign up for free membership and then only pay £4. The downside is that it only stays open until 2 am, which for me is quite an early night. I think it warrants a second chance, perhaps at the King's Cross venue. And in the meantime, spread the word - this night deserves your attendance.