Music

My adventures…at The Garage (with Hornet and Mia Klose)

Okay, so this piece is a bit of a mixture based on my adventures in London a couple of weeks ago. I’d promised to go and see the mighty bands Hornet and Mia Klose, and seeing as the two were playing together at the Garage in Islington on a Saturday night I thought I’d frankly kill two birds with one stone.

Seeing as the friend I was meant to go with was a bit of a let down on the day (I’m mentioning no names!) I still decided to turn up on my own and meet a few pals along the way. First stop was to the glorious Ku Bar Frith Street in Soho where my cousin Ross works. After all I needed a few drinks before the gig! After several (free) drinks and a catch up with Ross and some of the most beautiful (but sadly gay) men in London, I headed to the Garage.

Hornet had very kindly put me on the guest list (it’s good to have mates in these kind of circles) so that fiver saved was definitely paying for a rather overpriced drink. A tip for all of you going to the Garage – make sure you don’t get short changed after a few bevs like I almost did!

Anyway, the bands. Unfortunately I’d missed both Black Wolf and Whiskey Blood (the cocktails at Ku were too good) but got there in time to see Mia Klose setting up, including my mate Alex, who joined the band as a drummer a few months ago. I got chatting to a few people at the bar and kind of half-listened to their first song, Open Your Eyes in between conversation. But in true, ‘what is that’ style, their second track, You Drive Me Crazy, did make me turn round and forget about my whiskey and coke for three minutes. I’d only seen Mia, the band’s singer and namesake, online in photos and a couple of videos before, and to be honest I don’t really reckon girl singers in rock bands much, but actually I was rather impressed. Her stage presence was admirable, rival to many front men I’ve seen, and she seemed to have adoring fans of both sexes, which is quite hard to do for a blonde Swedish bombshell dressed in minimal leather and denim without having a crowd of jealous girls seething at their fellas for enjoying it.

The next few songs, including the ballad Living for Love, and other songs beginning with ‘L’; Living for Tomorrow and Lady Killer were all pretty good, with clever lyrics, catchy riffs and of course a bit of eye candy for both men and women. The band themselves were tight and know the gig circuit around London and other parts of the UK pretty well. Mia ended on a high with the memorable Never Too Late, even making the miserable barman have a little toe tapping moment.

The headlining act were of course the almighty Hornet. It wasn’t until this gig that I realised just how much of a following the Kent-based four-piece had and I was pleasantly surprised. The guys started up with their signature intro…”We. Are. Hornet. And we play rock. And. Roll” which is a bit of an attention grabber for those people (like me) who were still chatting at the bar. Opening with Down To The Bone and going through punchy rock melody after another, including I’m Gonna Be The Man, Skies Are Falling (the name of their debut album), Second Hand Smoke, and Rock ‘N’ Roll Riot.

The band’s ‘strong passion for rock and roll’ shines through, with influences such as the likes of AC/DC, Kiss and Motorhead reflected in their music. Lead singer Joe’s melodic growls teamed with theatrical and nifty guitar playing from Tollef, dirty bass riffs from Max and pretty spectacular drumming from Alex make the band’s high energy set pretty damn pleasurable. I would definitely recommend seeing the guys live as they put on a good show, with plenty of crowd participation and entertaining tricks from the boys themselves. Just thought I’d also mention that their debut album is about to be released after a huge and successful pledge campaign, so kudos to the guys for that!

So all in all, not a bad Saturday night in London!

Hornet’s debut album, ‘Skies Are Falling’ will available from 8th July via hornetrock.com, and Mia Klose’s album ‘London’ is available at store.miaklose.com.

I am available on Twitter. @LauraSelley.

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