Indirection

Mid-August is not a great time for shows. And this particular showcase at Zaphod's was not the musical highlight of my year (then again, it wasn't Hedley trying to cover Bob Marley either). Four different acts playing short sets, starting with Lostinside. They spell it all caps, perhaps to distinguish themselves from Lost Inside. Musically it's kind of mopey punk metal. They do it well, but can't say I'd be able to pick them out of a lineup of genre practitioners.

Last time they got around to listing their membership, they were a quintet, but they've picked up a sixth recently. Quite who's who I'm not sure, though I'm fairly sure that's Chris in the hat in the photo below.



Jordan on bass.



Elsewhere we've got Geordie and Matt, but quite who that is I dunno.







Jonno on drums.



That was okay, but it'll be more interesting to hear what they come up with three guys concentrating on guitar.

• Show reminder: John Allaire and The Campistas, North Easton and Steve Canadian perform at Zaphod Beeblebrox.

Left and leaving

At last, a day off with no visiting family to squire around town. Jon McLeod of Design of Cities mentioned he'd be playing Zaphod's free showcase yesterday night, so I headed off to catch a quartet of acts, most of which I hadn't heard before.

Lost Inside have a new member - they used to get by on three guitarists, a bassist and a drummer; now they have a vocalist as well, but I'm not sure what chair shuffling has been done to accommodate him. They sound like a a lot of the metal-punk outfits doing the rounds these days.



Distant Society had the most pro sound of the bands that evening - they were very sharp, technical problems notwithstanding. There was a nice cover of Wish You Were Here.



After a couple of songs from The Semantics I found myself thinking I'd seen them before - then it hit me that I'd seen them opening for The Town Cryers. I was underwhelmed that time, and found myself unimpressed this time too. I think they need to be a bit snappier and speedier before I start to enjoy them.



Finally Jon did a solo acoustic thing; unfortunately I missed the end since I had to be back home by midnight, lest I turn into a pumpkin.



Now I'm going to see if I can stay awake long enough to try some lunar eclipse photography ...