It's because of THE LIBERTINES and Pete Dohhery in and out of prison for his rock n roll extreme lifestyle or it's because it just happens from time to time but London UK is facing a new rock revolution. Not that it was dead but nowadays punk bands are growing and small clubs are really rocking again. Old 80s youth are now settled or turned to techno beats jumping on the vintage electro revival. Kids and 20s something are playing guitars stealing posters of Sid & Nancy from their parents bedrooms and Kurt Cobain t-shirts from their grown up brothers. It's nice to name a few before the mainstream machine really discover and put them on NME covers, taking them out of the smoky clubs for searching the next big thing to throw on a <Big Festival stage hysteria>.

THE PADDINGTONES come from Hull but now are trying to live and play the London thing. Their music is a power pop made of streaming guitars and big melodies. They don t have an album yet but two singles and the second one <Panick Attack> is already a classic hooligan bruiser.When they play clubs they explode and the lead singer, Tom Paddington, is a neurotic concentrate of all the hairy-skinny kids that made rock n roll a legend for rebels.No big messages are given but they kick straight to your heart with " a thousand-mile-high-trash of fuzzed-out rock". Debauchery and crazed narcotic intake are guaranteed.

SPECIAL NEEDS is a band who comes from the boredome of a Sheffield University lesson and it seems they are coming out from the worst Manic Street Preachers nightmare. They only have a single out <Francesca> but live they are promising a disturbing noisy nasal voice debut album. They don t play the subversive game ...oh I m a student and here I am bored...no, they feel like the only way to communicate from England is shouting whatever is wrong in this world and with a Blair who doesn t know where to go they seem to have many arguments. Not really romantic, not really politic, their message is more a youth request for help.

THEE UNSTRUNG are one of the youngest band around and they only want to have fun!the boys!! Formed 3 years ago in the area of Whitechapel they are sons of the original spirit of punk ...let s have fun right now philosophy...they say their sound is  so simple to demonstrate that any kid can grab a guitar and play. But they are very British indeed and the producer of their first album is Chris Difford, once musician in the new wave band Squeeze. They have the classic 4 pieces rock n roll band attitude, they are swagger and have proper songs to match.

THE RAKES have published their  first single in a very limited edition last year and they are growing in fame so that they are the real hot name between the London rock scene. It's very hard to find another band 's sound to describe them, they play a post-art-punk garnished with intelligence and humour. To me it's like listening to some vintage new wave record from late 70s and the fact that Paul Epworth is producing <Electric Fire>, the forthcoming album, say it all, Epworth might be the James "LCD Soundsystem" Murphy of London aka I like rock but I like to mix everything I have in my record collection. We hope that a kind  smell of intellectualism won't take advantage on the spontaneity they show during gigs. By their side is the fact that they're not cuties so we hope for more than a future punksmash band.

From South London we have THE LUDES, a two years old band which have already been invited for opening gigs for the likes of last year revelation "Franz Ferdinand" and "Electric Six". Chris Kimsey, the legendary producer of the Rolling Stones have spotted them and now he's working after their first album. They sound like a ska-punk band who sometimes gets inspired by the British Blues of the 60s. Coming from the same squat scene of the masters of all these groups The Libertines, THE OTHERS became quite famous for their "guerrilla gigs" aka unofficial exploding gigs given in secret and non secret places, including one unexpected gig in the studios of public tv BBC. Energetic but confusing punk sound with lyrics thrown in "slung cockney" almost ununderstandable for non-Londoners. The lead singer made public his mobile number (still I don't have it) to all the band's fans and it's said he aswers to everyone. Megalomania or what we don't know but I attended a gig lately and I was dramatically inspired by the screaming crowd slam dancing.

They already signed w Poptones and keep saying "we play for poor kids not for the  rich ones", I hope so for the future as it's very common to say in the beginning.

By the way all these bands are just a few in the burning London indie rock scene and probably not the best, it seems that more are coming out so if you are in London check these clubs whoever is playing and just have fun, maybe you will attend to the next Clash or Pistols (difficult) or whatever punk band you like from the 70s: Circus Elbow Room, The Angel, London Astoria, The Garage, Barfly and many others, the smallest the best.

Last but not least we hope that Pete Doherty rids off all the drugs so to finish THE BABYSHAMBLES album, in the meantime check for the import single <Killamangiro b/w The man who came to stay> or surf the web for the many MP3 around. We in London support him for the fact that he's been thrown away from the band known as THE LIBERTINES.

 Love u

maxxx

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