1990s, The Video Nasties - Madame Jo Jo's, London - Tuesday 22nd August 2006

Off to Madame Jo Jo's for the "White Heat" club night, which seemed to be full of achingly cool people. I never realised that leggings had come back into fashion, but about half of the female population of the club was wearing them. Expect horrible leggings to be available on your local high street soon!

First band on were the Video Nasties, a young-looking band who sported some interesting haircuts. The songs were very good, and the guitars and keyboards sounded great. They started off reminding me of the Futureheads a bit (their first song was very reminiscent), but also at various points reminded me of a less pretentious Art Brut, and The Killers (because of the keyboards at vital times). I really liked them, they are definitely worth getting to a gig early to catch.

Before the next band, I was looking around the venue, and saw lots of people that were trying very hard to look cool. Some of them looked like they might be famous, including one bloke that was a dead ringer for one of The Killers. Bernard Butler (the real one) was in the audience, as was Edwyn Collins.

The next band were 1990s, about whom I had heard good things. They are Scottish, and mixed good guitar riffs with good lyrics, and a bit too much deliberate feedback. Overall, I didn't enjoy them as much as the Video Nasties, but they certainly had a few songs worth seeking out again.

After that, Tapes N Tapes played, but it had got kind of late by then, so I watched a bit of their set, then drifted off home. Overall, the White Heat night was a good way to see some decent bands, although it is very deliberately for cool people only!