Piers Leonard
Film taste: French New Wave, Chinese epic, Korean drama, pretentious guff, Kate Hudson
Music taste: Chocolate Cookie Dough
Hangout: In the gutter looking at the arse
Most likes (about London): Arsenal FC
Least likes: Sp*rs
Me in 10 words: un bon coup
Reviews
venue Club Colosseum
Wednesday, 14 October
Perhaps the most versatile club in London, Club Colosseum plays host to a schizophrenically diverse range of nights. Seguing seamlessly from full-on fetish nights with incendiary names such as Club Antichrist, to groove nights that attract some of the biggest names in house. Set over an enormous area, it's best to stick together as getting split up can result in hours of fruitless wandering, avoiding many of the more, shall we say, exuberant characters that the venue attracts. It's also home to the legendary Acid Monkey nights, one of the UK's foremost psy-trance events. However, due to its divergent schedule, it's always best to check ahead to see what's happening.
artist Dizzee Rascal
Wednesday, 14 October
Well, what a journey it’s been for everyone’s favourite rude boi. Having become a cult hero with his breakout single ‘Jus’ A Rascal’, he has since become, via a brief chat with Jeremy Paxman and a victorious appearance at Glastonbury, one of the nation’s favourite perfomers, beloved of grimesters and teenyboppers alike. Hell, even my mum’s been know to sing along... While not everything he does will be to everyone’s tastes, it is refreshing to see an artist take risks and experiment, even if it doesn’t always work out. Collaborations with artists as diverse as Arctic Monkeys and Basement Jaxx ensure you’re never sure what his next step will be.
venue Wilmington Arms
Wednesday, 14 October
If you can navigate your way through the students counting out their pennies on the bar, this pub offers a great range of traditional ales and fantastic pies to snaffle away while you wait for that evening’s entertainment to begin. Located near Bloomsbury, the student capital of London, it’s no surprise that a lot of these acts have pretensions of intellectual bohemia. However, that is not to say that they’re not also often highly entertaining and can attract some surprisingly big names. Past visitors to their stage include hipsters’ darling Ladyhawke, The Guillemots and next-big-things Golden Silvers. With events on almost every night, it’s often worth a gander.
venue Hope and Anchor
Wednesday, 14 October
It woud be easy to pass by the Hope & Anchor and dismiss it, due to its unassuming facade, as just another pub in an area saturated with boozers conceived in an office in a tower block somewhere. However, walk through the doors and you feel yourself wandering down the pantheon of musical history. Previous acts to perform there reads like a who’s who of cult legends, as it became a leading establishment in the onslaught of the punk movement. Recently reformed The Stranglers even recorded a live album there such was their affection for the shabby chic of the atmospherically claustrophobic live venue in the basement. Nowadays, the Hope and Anchor status may have slipped a little, but it remains one of the best venues in London to see unsigned bands set out on their journey to stardom.
artist Cut Copy
Wednesday, 14 October
Cut Copy’s relatively minor success in the charts over here is surely one of the most damning indictments of the British public’s music tastes. Their 2008 album ‘In Ghost Colours’ was, in my (often vociferous, more often ignored) opinion, the best of the year, containing such indisputable gems as Lights & Music, and my personal favourite Hearts On Fire. Even among the burgeoning amount of electronic artists coming out of Melbourne at the moment, Cut Copy still manage to stand out. It’s not sure when they will next be touring the UK, but you can rest assured that when they do, I’ll be first in line for a ticket.
artist Zoot Woman
Wednesday, 14 October
While Zoot Woman bring a more pensive approach to the process of writing a pop song, nevertheless they know how to produce an anthem that's sure to get your feet moving. Flicking genres at ease, this Reading quartet are happy enough producing sublime melancholic ballads such as Blue Sea as they are dancefloor fillers like Information First. They recently released their third album 'Things Are What They Used To Be', after a long hiatus whilst band member Stuart Price took time off to produce Madonna's album 'Confessions on the Dancefloor', as well as churn out countless remixes under his various monikers. For someone so busy, it's no surprise that the band don't tour often, so if you get the chance to see them live, take it.
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