Fri 30th Jan '04

TOY TOWN CA$H

BUSHNUT

Club85, Hitchin
Doors 7.45pm
£4

Toy Town Ca$h
Urban Clearway

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Urban clearway Opened the show tonight doing something very similar to Exit 10 who they share a band member with, This screamo nu metal actually went down quite well with the audience who responded to the use of mellow sections and other vibes creeping through the heavy mix. The thing that stood out the most in this band was the creative bass playing with a really nice slap and pop style and inventive use of tapping.
There was also a really nice section in which it all went breakbeat and the vocals were reminiscent of DJ scratches!? The use of a funk section also worked really well. I wasn't too impressed with the whole band but there were some good elements in there.

Bushnut were the band that won over the crowd tonight with the inclusion of a new DJ swelling the ranks. This band seem to always try and play like there's a thousand people in the room which sometimes works and sometimes the whole stereotypical rap preamble "yeah yeah , get your hands up, come on make some noise" can get a bit tired, But Mark is one hell of a front man and the mix of the hooks and straight rap sections allows this band to really appeal to a mass audience.
The highlights of the set were 'Beat it' which shows the deftness of Mark's vocals and any of the numbers that included more of a funk vibe (which is really where I'd like to see Bushnut head.)
The band have a nice sound that can hit when it wants to and groove when it needs to, It's obvious this band are going to be making waves with all kinds of music fans.

Toy Town Cash brought the metalcore tonight and despite being a damn good band, they scared off a lot of the audience who had come for Bushnut away, Unfortunately this didn't leave many people left. Toy town cash were really good at what they do but it did seem to be generic metal core with the occasional alternative effects laden bit. Tight as you like drumming though it just never made much of an impression really.

Matt Turner