A great new band to check out is 'Timothy Leary Is Innocent'. I caught their act this last weekend at Chiltern, and I was very impressed.

They slot firmly into the nu-melodic-hardcore type of scene, and were sensationally tight on stage. Oodles of potential, great riffs and very engaging songs. Overall I was left with the impression that a well produced studio recording may easily find it's way into my personal cd collection; which is not my normal reaction the first time I hear a band, especially the hardcore genre which always takes a few listens before you get into it.

Their stage performance was lacking a bit, and for the first few songs we saw nothing but the backs of the four guys. This got a bit better, but the vocalist seemed to shy away from the audience a lot, both on stage and in the power of the vocals.

They seemed to bring a massive crowd with them too, which is always a good sign! Problem is, they left shortly after their gig and took the crowd with them. Hmm... not so cool. At least stay to support the others on the night! But all in all they left a great impression, and I can't wait to check out a few more gigs.

On a side note, I think Chiltern may be shooting themselves in the foot, and here's why: they're overbooking the venue, and instead of having a bi-weekly well promoted gig, they're going for overkill and are having as many bands as possible, all the time. I personally think it'll be their downfall, as people just can't appreciate five bands in one night, and then come back the next night for more! It's too many, especially when you've got high profile acts like Habit To, Passenger, Mea and Purephonic all in one night. People get sick of it, and the venue will suffer.

Oh, and they pushed the price of drinks up on the night. Bad form!