Local legends Hello Bear are taking an indefinite hiatus and after a triumphant appearance on the vast VW Whitenoise stage at the weekend they bid farewell with a “bye bye Bear” gig at the Owl Sanctuary, somewhat surprisingly in the downstairs bar. The place was rammed and with a great atmosphere … most of the audience in Hello Bear t-shirts with merch being sold off at a bargain £2 a shirt.
They will be missed but all the band members can still be seen in various guises, such as Hot Raisin, Lovin’ Handful, and Turf Club Racebook among others.
The following evening in the Rumsey Wells Underbelly saw some even dirtier punk rock blues, grunge and rockabilly with a hot and sweaty, very loud gig featuring Yarmouth’s ace bands Beast With a Gun and the ever increasingly wonderful Blisster, plus from York, Snakerattlers. I always look forward to seeing Blisster play and they never disappoint, always playing with a great energy and attitude … much the same can be said about Beast With a Gun too actually. This was a great venue to experience all of them, a tiny cellar rammed full of music fans and the bands blasting the PA. I was seeing Snakerattlers for the first time and this duo – who are also a couple – make a big noise and are a LOT of fun. Drums, guitar, wailing, all in a gloriously filthy garage rockabilly sound. “Oh My Love” is slap bang inbetween The Cramps and The Sonics, and that’s some place to be! Incredibly, The Snakerattlers have only been in existence a few months hence their having no material left for the screamed for encore. Thanks to Rob for making the gig happen. So much fun that the smokers didn’t even notice the rain until afterwards because they didn’t leave the underbelly all night* (quote from RJ Futter 🙂 ) – I only noticed it myself as I made a dash to the cashpoint so that I could buy Snakerattlers’ album, ‘This is Rattlerock’.
Amy Blisster
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@RShashamane
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Norwich: Music City, UK 