Reuben

Reuben, headliners and music press-acclaimed single releasers that they are, were on last, so you, the reader, have to sit through 2 other bands on this 'Nu Metal' night, just as I did. Lets go!

First up are Orca, local boys on one of their seemingly eternal support slots, having been recording for about 3 years, shouldn't they have got further than this? Well, no, not really. It was no coincidence that the last lot I saw here were Hundred Reasons, this was little more than Hundred Reasons without the tunes, and I'm sure it doesn't take much for you to realise that that isn't a very nice thing... Some people in the toilets thought they were great, even claiming that Orca "have some bollocks" but hey, they stay stuck low down on support bills for a reason, live with it.

In a flurry of grey urban-cammo cut-off trousers, large chin-beards and glitteringly intense stares, Schiztome mount the stage and begin to shout at the crowd for not being anywhere near the front, then they kick off. Pantera chugs hit Deftones (before they got fat and old) riffs, there's very little nu about this metal, it's so heavy that they needed a breeze block to stop the drum kit being beaten off the stage. Having formed the biggest moshpit of the night (10 people) they dedicate a harder and faster version of 2000's 'Bruised' to us and again shout at everyone else for their lack of hardcore. For their last song Nevil is called in to double up on vocals for the pinnacle of their thorough beatdown of a set, the moshers get half a bottle of water poured over them, and they need it. Schiztome are in London playing an industry showcase for Colombia soon, tickets/info on 01752-255311 (Different Class Records) Get to it.

The second that Reuben took to the stage comparisons to Sparkleshark murmured through some (1) of the crowd, probably due to it being the smallest number of people on stage all night drawing far more attention to the individuals, rather than the band as a whole, that did it. They'd have to be bad to out-bore Orca, Zodiac Mindwarp himself to out-rock Schiztome. They were neither of these, they were something different.

What seemed to be the shortest set of the night, despite being 8 whole songs, was the most full, the most rounded of the lot. With posters for the night billing them as having a "5 Ks single" many could be there just out of curiosity, that curiosity soon turned into climbing the speaker stack, near-fatal stagediving and people actually singing along to 'Scared of the Police' with the kind of feeling that only comes from buying a record a week earlier, then listening to it non-stop until the band are in town. The kind of feeling that gives a band far more power than any number of magazine reviews, any number of industry accolades.

Bounding up to singer Jamie later on, I asked him what he wanted to tell The Kids: "Do it yourselves, don't wait for anyone else, get up there and have a go" And with songs like 'Wooden Boy', 'only' a B-side getting such a reception (and a video you might see on MTV2) if anyone does take their words to heart, does get out there and do it themselves to even a fraction of Reuben's quality, then The Kids will be singing along to their songs with this much ferver at a venue near you soon.