Necromag.co.uk

Necromag, like the omnipresent godlike internet deity it is, can be in two places at once over the weekend. About 150 miles away from the burlesque antics of the flaming Ace, we were also present, and also quite drunk, at Nottingham’s Rock City for Jon Crosby and his band of merry men. Before frequenting another fine rock venue, the Speak Easy pub, the lager cans were cracked open at about 2pm, in true rock journalism style. Notts is a largely student run city, and the streets are filled with an eclectic mix of hippies, goths, chavs and emo’s. This type of situation would provoke terror in most towns, but tonight the air is one of calm. The Speak Easy is known for its brilliant metal filled jukebox and it’s offensive pub quiz, where once I am told the winning team, quite ironically, was named “I Got Beat Worse Than Nelson Mandela In Prison.” After several more pints, it’s time to leave the Speak Easy and head over to Rock City. I made friends with a gentleman in the urinal after it was established that we shared the same name, and my northern drawl was mostly incomprehensible to most people here.

Opening act Scanners could only be described as surprisingly good, considering nobody knew who the hell they were or where they were from, this 4 piece combo build fantastic synth infused soundscapes round gorgeous female melodies, carrying more imagination and creative flair than any of the average indie bands in the mainstream at the moment. As guitarist and keyboardist switch roles, they have a very unique sound which hopefully will get them noticed so that I can find some god damnned information on a Wikipedia article!

Then there’s VAST. Jon Crosby’s band is brought onstage by the band’s violinist who, it must be said, does look a lot like Shakespeare. Now, not to be cruel, but it needs to be said that Mr Crosby has changed shape somewhat over the years, and as I peer around the crowd of devoted fans, our collective unconscious minds are all thinking one thing……”Jon got Vast!” Unlike certain other portly rock stars, however, Jon can still sing without losing his breath. Take THAT Chino! Acoustic guitar strapped, he powers through a mega mash up of VAST anthems, note perfect every time. Tonight is a showcase for how brilliant VAST are as a live band. “Free” and “Pretty When You Cry” are obvious fan favourites, judging by how loud this crowd can get.
Rock City proves to be the perfect venue for this band who, for all the obvious likenesses their first album brought them to Nine Inch Nails, are now simply a fantastic rock band. No synth, no backing tracks, no keyboards, just live music. Several vodka lemonades later, Necromag has retired to the dance hall. There was apparently some flesh exposed on my behalf. My story is “I have no recollection of the events in question”.