Harlem, Cherry Overdrive, Black Pussy - Ama'r Strandbar, København 8/13/10
From Aural Innovations #41 (October 2010)
It is not that often that one can walk out their front door and be at a place where there is cool live music within a few minutes walk. In the early 90s I lived 5 minutes walk from the great 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley and that was cool. Anyway, this was the first time I had seen a show at this small summer only venue. I showed up early as I knew I would not go at all if did not get out of the house. Harlem had finished their soundcheck, which was pretty much only good for a rehearsal for them as the other bands were taking all their gear off the stage and setting up their own! Had a nice chat with Nik from On Trial and he could confirm that On Trial was no more. He is still making music with Black Pussy and also Anders and Hobbiten on Anders (On Trial-Mother Superior) second solo record. I also chatted with Morgan and the Cherry Overdrive girls. Everyone was in a good mood.
Black Pussy are a three piece with Christian on drums and Nik (Ex- On Trial, Hot Rod Moses) on bass and Steiner on guitar (Hot Rod moses). They play hard edged rock and roll. The guitar riffs and chords are nearly the same on all the songs but they are catchy and they throw in some short psychy lead solos here and there. They just blasted us for like 30 minutes and said goodbye. I enjoyed the set. There was about 35-40 people watching them, including some family members.
Cherry Overdrive were next and now the place was like half filled up with like 60 people or more and the girls rocked! It was all songs that I had heard them play at Kildemose but they have great energy and a lot of cool songs. Lene's lead guitar playing seemed a bit off tonight but I loved her guitar sound. Christian from Black Pussy and Anders (Ex-On Trial) were just having a good time from the backstage area watching the Cherry drummer work it hard. She is a very cool female drummer. Crowd liked it and they played about 50 minutes, I think.
Harlem, from Austin, Texas was up next. I had never heard them so did not know at all what to expect. I spoke with them a bit and this was the third gig of their European tour. They had a French roadie and tour manager with them. Very nice people. When they started to play, the place filled back up with about 40-50 people and more people stayed outside drinking on this nice summer evening. As for the music, they play melodic garage beat pop music. They reminded me of a non-homosexual version of the old band Panzi Division at times. I did not really like them that much at all. It is just too mainstream for me, this style of music. I left after like 6 songs. I had a nice night though.
Reviewed by Scott Heller