Birdeatsbaby, Hana Piranha, The Cesarians, One Last Thrill Live at the Black Heart Camden 19th September 2019

This was the launch party for Brighton based “Prog-Goth” band Birdeatsbaby’s single Painkiller that’s on the bands 6^th album The World Conspires that’s due out on 18^th October from http://www.dr-music-promotion.de/

London Birseatsbaby ep launch at Black Heart, Camden Town ( Richard Ellington)

I arrived about halfway through One Last Thrill’s set and they sounded like they really would have been perfect to see playing the legendary Big Bobs Gone Strange club at the Rock Garden in Covent Garden in the late 1990s. Steph Whitehead’s vocals are full of anguish while telling us to Face It and just move on if needs be, the guitars are pretty crunchy and I really liked the closing song If Leaving Was An Option that had a good sense of despair in it as long as they can find enough gigs to play they should be able to build a decent following.

Birseatsbaby ep launch at Black Heart, Camden Town (Simon Phillips)

One Last Thrill (Simon Phillips)

Next on were The Cesarians who I seem to see play live once every year or two for the last 11 or 12 years I can’t remember when I first saw them as an opening act or on the bill at Gypsy Hotel, either way they are always worth seeing as Charlie Finke the bands lead singer said they now describe themselves as playing “presidential revenge bebop“ which is a perfect song intro, I know just what he means as the current six piece line-up are as much of a Bebop band as a Eastern European cabaret influenced seedy rock band.

Songs like Antichrist and the quite brilliantly dark Shitpocalypse really grooved and got everyone moving. By the time they closed with the call and response friendly Woo Woo Man that asks “what part of don’t understand don’t you understand” they had done everything they could to shake everyone out of complacency. As ever they are great fun live no matter how angry or political, they get.

The Cesarians (Simon Phillips)

Hana Piranha were the main support band and feature Hana Maria on Violin and vocals who is also in Birdeatsbaby they are a dark angsty goth rock band with some nice twists and the Violin solos made me think of Within Temptation a bit although the band they most sound like to me are Lacuna Coil.

Hana Piranha Black Heart Camden (Richard Ellington)

The new single Naked Flame sounded good with some really interesting lyrics and a great violin part. Silk and Poison sounded like it could be a dangerous pursuit while Slave is darkly sexual and possibly scary if you don’t want her to be your slave that is. They closed with a cool if somewhat proggy cover of Toxic and I had to google it to realize that it’s originally by Britney Spears this cover at least makes it listenable.

Birseatsbaby ep launch at Black Heart, Camden Town (Richard Ellington )

Then Birdeatsbaby took us into properly dark progressive territory with a set that opened with the bands lead singer and Synth queen Mishkin Fitzgerald singing Box Of Razorblades that certainly let us know they are taking us into the dark maelstrom and the music was intense and a touch complicated.

Anna Mylee (Richard Ellington)

Zero 43 sounded like a score to some nightmarish sequence in a dystopian drama Hana Maria’s Violin squalling and scraping at our souls. The title song of the new album The World Conspires was mainly a duet between Mishkin and Hana that felt like the calm before the ragingly complicated storm that was Deathbed Confessional that’s almost as complex as the dying American empire it’s at least partially if not totally about both confusing and confounding quite a tune.

Mishkin and Hana (Richard Ellington)

Apparently it was drummer Anna Mylee’s first gig with them so to hear the complex drum pattern on set Closer Painkiller was quite something this has so many musical twists and turns that Gary Mitchell on guitar was really flying all over the place while Hana Maria played both Violin and Double bass which was quite a way to close a cool and rather intense set.

Words by Simon Phillips & Photography by Ricard Ellington of Birdeatsbaby, Hana Piranha, The Cesarians, One Last Thrill Live @ Black Heart Camden 19th September 2019.

Garbage Celebrate Three Decades Of Defiance At London’s Roundhouse

Thirty years into a career built on challenging convention, Garbage arrive at London’s Roundhouse looking anything but content to trade on nostalgia. Despite three decades of touring the capital, tonight marks the band’s first appearance at the iconic Camden venue, and from the moment Shirley Manson, Duke Erikson, Steve Marker, Butch Vig and touring bassist Nicole Fiorentino step onto the stage, they perform with the urgency of a band still determined to push forwards rather than look back.

Nathan Leaze EP Launch @ Strand Palace Hotel (Henry Finnegan / @finneganfoto)

Dreaming Of A Memory: Nathan Leazer’s Songs, Stories And Second Chances

There are album launches, and then there are evenings that feel more like an invitation into somebody’s life. Nathan Leazer’s Dreaming Of A Memory EP launch at The Strand Palace Hotel was firmly the latter.

Alison Goldfrapp @ Summer Series Somerset House 2023 (Simon Reed)

Somerset House Summer Series Gets Underway As 2026 Festival Brings Eleven Nights Of Live Music To London

One of London's most eagerly anticipated outdoor concert series returns today (16 July) as Somerset House Summer...

Lifehouse @ O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire (Kalpesh Patel)

Full Circle At O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire: Lifehouse Return To London In Intimate Acoustic Triumph

There are gigs that simply entertain, and then there are gigs that transport you. Lifehouse’s long-overdue return to London at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire is very much the latter. Eleven years since their last visit to the capital, Jason Wade and longtime guitarist Steve Stout strip everything back for the second of two London acoustic shows—following the previous evening’s performance at nearby Bush Hall—and in doing so remind a packed Shepherd’s Bush Empire exactly why these songs have endured for a quarter of a century.

Metallica Double Up For A No Repeat Weekend At London Stadium

It’s the first weekend in July and The Metal has taken over Westfield Stratford. Friday evening shoppers mingle with sweaty black clad rockers, because Metallica have brought their No Repeat Weekend M72 tour to this corner of East London. Now into it’s fourth year, the final weekend of this tour will see the metal giants play two completely different sets over Friday and Sunday night at London Stadium — an immense treat for the diehards, and introducing some deeper cuts for the casuals, providing something for everyone.

Sydney Rose @ BST Hyde Park 2025 (Kalpesh Patel)

Sydney Rose Builds On Breakthrough Success With Intimate New Single ‘Track Team’

Rising singer-songwriter Sydney Rose has returned with her latest single, Track Team, continuing the remarkable momentum that has transformed the Georgia-born, Nashville-based artist into one of alternative pop’s fastest-rising new voices.

Duran Duran @ BST Hyde Park 2026 (Sienna Lorraine Gray)

Duran Duran Crown A Sun-Soaked Day Of Pop Royalty At BST Hyde Park 2026

It was yet another warm, sunny London day, the start of the country’s next heatwave, as thousands descended on Hyde Park for the final day of the second BST Hyde Park weekend of 2026. There was another event looming over the evening too: England’s World Cup Round of 16 clash with Mexico, kicking off at the decidedly unsociable hour of 1am. Football could wait though. Sunday belonged to disco legends, glam-pop icons and one of Britain’s most enduring bands as Duran Duran headlined a day that effortlessly balanced nostalgia with timeless musicianship.

The Script Celebrate Friendship And Forgiveness On New Single ‘The Crowd Was Singing Wonderwall’

The Script have shared the latest preview of their forthcoming album The User’s Guide To Being Human with the release of the uplifting new single The Crowd Was Singing Wonderwall. Arriving ahead of the band’s eagerly anticipated new album on 14th August, the track follows the anthemic lead single Man In The Arena and continues to showcase a record that promises to balance heartfelt storytelling with the arena-sized choruses that have become synonymous with The Script throughout their career.

Birdeatsbaby, Hana Piranha, The Cesarians, One Last Thrill Live @ Black Heart Camden