Less Than Jake / Pepper/ Beat Union / Imperial Leisure

4 bands for £14 what a bargain, however with it being bonfire night, and a lot of other entertainment available, the numbers are down at the Lemon Grove tonight, and I can see why this show was moved from the bigger venue of The Great Hall just up the road.



There's quite a gathering of smokers outside, and some pretty pungent smells are wafting away from them as I grab a quick smoke before the 20 minute set of Imperial Leisure. They're shockingly poor, and seem to be suffering from road burn out. The band are all over the place and singer can hardly speak, he knocks back most of a half bottle of brandy in the short time he's on stage for medicinal reasons, and struggles through with his vocals in tatters.

It's left to the other singer to try and carry the set as they totter through 'Great British Summertime' which gets a few people skankin' but the vocals are all over the place. 'Man On The Street' is the first time I realise they have a guitarist. New song 'Landlord's Daughter' has the crowd singing along and the lead singer with all that brandy in him leaps about the pit, scoops up a photographer and carries her on his shoulders before collapsing over a monitor. However, without the vocals the band are just gong through the motions.

There's a quick drum kit change and lots of added cymbals for the tattooed Luke to batter throughout Beat Union's gloriously energetic 25 minute set. The 4 piece from Birmingham are terrific, upbeat with a punk/mod flavour with a big bass and drums combination. The distorted guitars and well written punchy numbers get the crowd bouncing by the second tune. The high energy drummer is a joy to watch, as the band showcase songs from debut album 'Dissatisfaction'.



Their pop punk is infectious and they quickly win the crowd over with their banter about how they've only just returned to the UK. 'My Heart Stops Beating', and 'Pressure Zone' are well crafted songs, the latter being dedicated to "those dissatisfied with school (it is a very young audience), university, work or even being in a touring band" (hmmm to the previous band then) and even manages to get a circle pit going, and at the time they are playing The Police's 'Can't Stand Losing You' they close with 'Can't Stop The Radio', interjecting 'Mirror In The Bathroom' and 'Sending Out An SOS' into the mix. An impressive performance from a band that I reckon will go far, even more impressive is the circle pits to The Police songs.

Pepper on the other hand are a completely different proposition, fronted by two engaging Hawaiians, who play low slung bass and bluesy guitar, they have been to the Huey from Fun Lovin' Criminals school for the gift of the gab, and graduated with honours at The Red Hot Chili Peppers university of crunching basslines and bluesy riffs. They play "The English one" for the crowd Blur's 'Song 2' which has the crowd on their side, before delivering a ska, metal and reggae flavoured set, combined with a lot of banter.



"Come see us in Hawaii, when you get out of school, you're all welcome." offers the band, and "what do you like best beer, weed, or women, or all three?" which pretty much sums up the tone of this 'college' set. The tunes are good enough, but it's too much High School, surf culture orientated between the songs for a cold night in England. There's some phat chops set down and 'Freeze', 'Blackout', and 'Point And Shoot' with the catchy "Pussy Lickin'" chorus, all appeal to tonight's 'I wanna be American' crowd.

The band are genuinely blown away when someone in the crowd asks for 'Arena' and they put the house lights up, to ask if he's for real. Their road manager Bob Coles, joins the trio on stage to sing the lyrics, and suddenly I'm thinking this has to be a well rehearsed set up. But it's a nice bluesy rock, reggae sound that occasionally has an edge of heaviness more akin to the band Motorhead whose shorts are sported by bassist Bret Bollinger.



The headline acts of the night are Less Than Jake, and it would appear everyone in the crowd knows all the lyrics, as they sing along to every song including the new ones. In fact from the first song the audience go mental, as the band barely pause, rattling through 'All My Best Friends Are Metalheads', 'Does the Lion City Still Roar?', and 'Johnny Quest Thinks We're Sellouts' without pause. We're all asked to sing along to 'Happy Birthday' to a girl in the crowd, Buddy on trombone, dashes about the tiny stage, singing and jumping about in front of the band, although he and horns partner JR are busier than they've been for years, there's a lot more wind bits tonight. Roger with his dreads on bass grins, and leers at the crowd, gesticulating back at more animated members of the throng.

We're told that Vinnie, on drums, and Roger, lead vocals have had a row, and Vinnie nearly didn't come on this tour, the story creates a bit of tension, as the band all have a quick shot of booze and plunge on with 'Look What Happened', 'Summon Monsters' and 'The Ghosts Of Me and You' by now there's attractive girls crowd surfing, in fact the venue is packed with attractive young ladies all singing along with passion, and some of them have pained expressions as they're squashed by the mosh at the front barrier.

The music is relentless, the band pause, to have a dig at all those who downloaded their new album 'GNV FLA' for free before new song 'Conviction Notice' the band are clearly narked by this, and repeatedly return to the fact they reckon we've all downloaded it for free, and hoping we've all bought T-shirts to make up for it. many people hadn't done this as the band were out in the foyer signing stuff instead of selling stuff earlier.



Next up we have an impromptu dance off with two security guards, who try to woo a pair of ladies with their sexy dance moves. It's a vision that leaves most of the crowd traumatised!

'Liberty City', and 'Dopeman' are included before the band leave to quickly return for a chat, where they suggest flying the whole audience to 'Gainesville Rock City' and with a final blast of confetti cannons it's all over, the crowd appears to have multiplied, and it's a sweaty mass that head out into the night, buoyed by an energetic set of hits and new tunes, and some good banter, the band clearly love to play live, and tonight it shows.

Admittedly it must be a bit less of an experience for anyone who doesn't know their songs, but for those that do, it's anthemic and the inclusion of a few surprise hits, like 'Great American Sharpshooter' and 'The Science of Selling Yourself Short' made it a great night of ska, and loud entertaining rock.

FUTURE GIGS

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