Scarlet Soho, Greg-from-Neo, Princess Drive and Loophole. Portland Arms. 19/6/03.
Reviewed by Holl(i)y

Last minute bill-additions Loophole came as a very pleasant surprise indeed. The musical equivalent of a disappearing subway train - only with TUNES -
underneath a siren-like lead vocal reminiscent of a demon on a rollercoaster. Which adds up to good noise. Theoretically I'd write a lengthy praising rant, but I was far too tired that night to stand up without concentrating, which has left me unable to describe them effectively - but do believe me when I say you should check them out.

Princess Drive gave me the impression of knowing how their music should be(loud, punk, rock, politics and disillusion, a hint of funk) and of having the basic ingredients of riffs and shouting nailed down, without quite having figured out how to shape that into a song which goes somewhere and
sounds like a complete tune. They've got all the right ideas, all the ingredients for something that utterly rocks are there, they just need to
move from a set of worthy but disjointed musical ideals to putting those ideas together into something coherent. I await further developments with interest...

You wouldn't guess if asked to that Neo's hard-edged glittering punk-pop gems would work in an acoustic set, but you'd be wrong. Even without the
hefty adrenaline rush the full band provides, the tunes are strong enough to stand alone. Not quite as good as the full-blown drums and bass all-inclusive band, but still well worth the main support slot and gaining more attention than is normally given to acoustic sets by the impatient
bar-congregating masses.

And finally the black-clad Scarlet Soho enter to throw themselves around the stage for the next half hour. Falling somewhere between rock and electro, S. Soho manage to make drum-machine sterility the basis for some damn exciting
music, tight and fast and startlingly original, rocking out with the best of them but in the least obvious of ways. They've got their sound down to a T and know exactly where they want to go with it - now they just need an A&R man somewhere to overcome his fear of That Which Is Musically Different and to get them the exposure they deserve...