Temper's Idol / No Made Sense / Suck-Ups / Ambient Dollar

Newbury Waterside Centre

29.11.03

First up on Saturday night were the simply fantastic death-metallers Ambient Dollar. That's if you enjoy watching two fully-grown men screaming indecipherable lyrics in an ape-like way whilst their band struggle to string together any kind of discernible tune. We do hope they're taking the mick.

The Suck-Ups played an energetic set of ska-punk, although not being amazingly tight due to only playing a small number of gigs since their formation. A Rachel Stevens' cover also enhanced the novelty factor.

No Made Sense specialise in extremely tight no-nonsense (ha!) metal. All already competent players despite their tender age, NMS' guitarist played a blinder, an Eddie Van Halen in the making.

After their success in this year's BOTB final, Temper's Idol are currently one of the most talked about bands in Newbury. They didn't disappoint, sounding like a manic combination of Hundred Reasons, Fugazi, and ATD-I with aspects of Incubus thrown in for good measure. The band put everything into their performance, all the tracks played to flawless perfection. Me Two Charlie is certainly the band's best song, whilst Drive-Thru Resignation proved to be another highlight.

Clive Drew