Queen's Pleasure

Artist - Queen's Pleasure, After London & The Dazed Minded

Venue - Wedgewood Rooms

Town - Portsmouth UK

A trip to Portsmouth on a Sunday evening, you might not expect there'd be too much excitement in store but another hand picked selection of three bands from ABH Promotions was the tonic needed.

The Dazed Minded

The Dazed Minded kick off with poppy tunes edging on simplistic garage rock with a certain charm that won the crowd over and had them singing along to song they hadn't heard before. A Reading band as lead singer Beth informed the watching faces to a deafening silence which tickled her as it was probably the reaction she was expecting. I think it was hard to put a positive spin on coming from Reading and Beth made the most of that.

The Dazed Minded

The Dazed Minded

Next up were After London with a tight danceable catalogue of songs, they are extremely proficient I guess from playing together for a long while and it pays back in the grooves that creep up on you and make your feet move involuntarily. Don't get me wrong though the tunes get intense with Rap and strong chorus lines getting bigger during the songs. Frank Ward adds passion to the delivery backed by that skin-tight rhythm section creating a wholesome rock package.

After London

After London

Last up and definitely worth waiting for were Queen's Pleasure on a sojourn to blighty from their home in Amsterdam. From the first note squealing from the stage, they were "on it" big style. Each song to me sounded like another classic and I watched wondering where this band had been hiding! Yeah I know ... Holland but if this band came from Leeds or Ireland they would be competing with Fontaines DC by now.

Queen's Pleasure

Queen's Pleasure

There is mix up of The Strokes, Jamie T and a little Pavement in there, so how does that work you may ask... perfectly. The band members exude personality and it is hard to concentrate on one member as so much is happening. Though there can be a lot of "noise" it all sounds under control and held on a leash just itching to escape, Teun Putker had such fine touch, stroking and caressing his guitar with sounds that you would expect from a character such as Graham Coxon. Bass playing with added dandyism from Jelmer van Os contrasts with singer Jurre Otto's straightish performance that even so is intriguing and lastly the immense drumming of Sal Rubinstein. Here is my conclusion, Queen's Pleasure are my New favourite band...

Queen's Pleasure

Queen's Pleasure

Queen's Pleasure

Queen's Pleasure

Queen's Pleasure

Queen's Pleasure

Queen's Pleasure

Queen's Pleasure

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