Crystal Pistol
Bar Monsta
London, Engalnd
18 September 2007
By Alissa Ordabai
(SugarBuzz London)
Photos by Guranda Anchabadze
Canadian rockers Crystal Pistol have finally made it back to the UK on September 18 after a 14-month break. The show at London’s Bar Monsta, organised by British promoter Joolz, turned into the best rock party of the year so far, attracting the coolest characters on underground scene. All the elements that make a perfect rock event combined on the night: the bands sounded fab, the audience looked gorgeous, and the overall mood of the evening was laidback and fun. Musicians, promoters, writers, photographers, and scenesters have all decided that they were going to look their best and have as much fun as legally possible.
An experienced hostess, Joolz created an atmosphere where everyone instantly felt welcome and relaxed. Before the bands even began to play, guests were already prowling around the room, exchanging the latest news, sharing jokes, and showing off the hottest rock couture invented to this day. Miniskirts, high heels, red lipstick, bare midriffs, and streaked hair were de rigueur among the girls, and so were tight denim, black eyeliner and leather jackets for the guys.
As far as the music goes, Crystal Pistol delivered the most interesting performance of the night churning out one thrash-and-burn rock song after another for over an hour. The way this band is reinventing the classic rock sound by mixing it with punk and glam metal is uncanny, but their talent doesn’t stop at working punk beats into the classic grooves and sprinkling them with lustrous glam solos. What they are also surprisingly good at is balancing the tradition with the textures and the rhythms of this decade, manipulating past and present genres into their own version of modern rock, knowing how to extend simple notions into strong statements.
Sweet harmonies, angular guitars and poignant vocals wrapped around unvarnished, simple melodies were the staples of every song Crystal Pistol played on the night, and we all loved the swagger of the band’s stage show, their deliberately vacuous brand of chic giving off that distinct scent of decadent shamelessness that we in the UK are suckers for and which we always secretly hope to see in the visiting North American acts, although we rarely openly admit it.
Local support bands Jack Viper, Vamps’n’Gypsies and Love & Bullets didn’t duck in the face of the onslaught from the other side of the Atlantic. All three proved once again that they are serious-minded, determined musicians, hell-bent on getting signed no matter how tough the going is for rock’n’roll in the UK right now.
Between the sets the party’s centre of gravity invariably shifted from the front of the stage to the smoking area near the car park, and this is where my photographer Guranda Anchabadze took the best shots. While the English rock scene is only starting to get to terms with the recently introduced smoking ban, the senesters don’t need getting used to looking their best when a camera is around. And while you are checking out the pictures taken on the night, please note that you’ll get more out of them if you listen to any of the following tracks while looking: “Rockstar” by Crystal Pistol, “Devil May Care” by Jack Viper, “Sleaze” by Vamps’n’Gypsies or “Rock’n’Roll City” by Love & Bullets.
