Josaka - Berkshire live music, indie record label, gig promoter

Gig: Camden Crawl, SixNationState + Does It Offend You, Yeah?, London

Posted: Sat, 19 Apr 2008

I think it�s only reasonable to declare if you�ve seen a band a lot, and so with SixNationState I declare that as fact. Self described as �gypsy punk� they bring together a Zutons/Coral esq sound with about three times the energy in their live show.

After having made Reading their home for a while, they then made a white van their home and toured the UK and Europe in it. With their debut album out last year they�re now in London writing and recording for their second album whilst still playing quite a few gigs.

Camden Crawl is an annual event and people buy a wristband that allows entry to numerous venues and gigs in Camden. There are normally big acts playing small venues. SixNationState played an official Crawl gig on the Friday night but we were at Beggars so we decided to catch an unoffcial one at Tommy Flynns on Saturday afternoon.

The plan after that was to go and have some drinks with Liam O'B after the Reading/Arsenal match.

It was already packed when we arrived at Tommy Flynns and we couldn't even make it to the bar so we huddled near the door waiting for SixNationState to go on.

Not long after this Rob formerly of Rebus but now of Does It Offend You, Yeah? arrived. I hadn't seen him for ages and although we planned to see The Noyze in Islington later that night we couldn't resist his invite to see DIOYY in a Thai restaurant (they played Koko the night before) as we hadn't seen them yet.

So SixNationState went on and played their hearts out, hungover at 3pm in the afternoon. New song 'Take Me There' sounded like a sure fire single and another new Motown-type song showed off their vocal harmonies. It was the best I've seen them play for ages and it looked like they were enjoying the new songs as much as us.

They blasted through the new ones and finished the set on some old favourites including 'I hate the Summer' and 'Up and Down'. There was time for a few hellos and goodbyes before they drove to Southampton for another gig.

We then had a quick chat with Rob and agreed details for meeting up later and decided to stick around to catch Beans on Toast who sang about Kate Moss and cocaine to a mixture of amused and bemused Saturday afternoon punters.

With that we left Tommy Flynns to track down Liam O'B. We found him watching football with his friends in the Big Red pub on the Holloway Road. Some banter, a few pints and some cheesy chips later it was time to get back to Camden to see Does It Offend You, Yeah?

As we approached Thai restaurant 'NW1' an hour before the gig there was already a long queue outside. We collected our wristbands just in time and after a short wait got in to the heaving venue.

Does It Offend You, Yeah? were playing their first song, the whole place was packed and jumping! Two huge bouncers were all that was between the crowd and the band. We push all the way to the front as tune after tune pumps out. Singer Morgan walks through the crowd and sings from a bar that's more used to red curry than singers.

I barely remember the next 40 minutes, but I'm pretty sure 'Lets Make Out' was dropped near the start of the set and they saved 'We Are Rockstars' for the end which caused an extra surge from the bouncing crowd.

It was very hot, I danced a lot and my brand new green flash were ruined! It was one of those life-affirming gigs that reminds you why you love music. I can't remember much about it but I'll always remember it. Awesome.

The restaurant cleared and we had a drink with Rob before their tour manager dropped us off with in Kings Cross. We say goodbyes and wish him well in America and head home.

I'm left thinking sometimes the best gigs of all are the ones you never planned to go to!

Jim Bowes

Photo by Ruth