The Rakes

“This song is for my ex-girlfriend, who dumped me last week before my birthday. We’re still friends. It’s called ‘I Hope You Die in Hell, Bitch’”

Ho ho. The Rakes can carry off this Playing A Gig lark with wit, jagged riffs, minor Ian Curtis-isms and, over all, not taking themselves particularly seriously. Which is more than can be said for The Basics, who churn out ultra serious MOR like there’s no tomorrow, with an arrogant singer who could do with a bit of a slap. When a heckler cries out “you’re shit!”, he replies, “you’re a cunt,” and makes a comment along the lines of “I’m the one with the microphone.” I found myself edging closer and closer to the exit…

But back to The Rakes, who all look very stylish tonight dressed in red and black. At the moment, they’re certainly not the finished product. They don’t have that one song you leave humming when they’ve finished and some of the vocals are, let’s just say, a wee bit dodgy (let’s just blame that on Metro’s PA, shall we?). What they do have – apart from the ability to make me exceedingly happy indeed - is the knack of a capturing a hook, and spitting it out with gold old fashioned punk rock attitude. But where some punks would heckle and intimidate their audience, The Rakes love theirs (OK, apart from the ex-girlfriend) and reward us with “something sexual” – in other words, a bad Nigel Tufnel-style guitar solo.

And you can’t ask for much more than that, can you?