Rachel Stamp

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Fred Durst claims he's recreating the generation gap with nu-metal. In Rachel Stamp's world there is definitely a gap but it's not one of age. Twelve year olds in Slipknot t-shirts stand next to goths in their thirties, welcome to the degeneration gap of alternative against the world. The curtain comes up and six people stand on the stage in Wicker Man style animal masks, behind them are neon gravestones and a backdrop of an eerie courtyard. A clanking beat rides over as rock's most glam four piece run on and their spooky support cast shuffle off. Lead singer, Dave Rider Prangley, blue hair billowing out and a feather boa wrapped tightly around his diminutive frame wails into the microphone as the band launch into, 'My Sweet Rose'. Coming in somewhere between old school crotch rock and grunge there's a lot of screaming, a lot of twiddly solos, and a lot of stage play. During a technical fault the crowd bays in a surge of hormones and Dave stops twiddling his bass, "I'm not paid to do this", he says, handing his bass to a tech, "I'm paid to do this", and promptly minces around the stage to a backing beat with his arse hanging out his trousers. Bass working and trousers pulled up again it's back to business, crawling on the floor, jumping on the drum kit, and hammering out a mix of new songs and those from the debut album, 'Hymns For Strange Children'. Their newly found following in the teenage anti-pop generation assured, Rachel Stamp could finally breakthrough to the mainstream after years of cult status.