Xfm DJ John Kennedy presents an evening of London talent in the west end venue, the Social, London, England. June 2007.

A couple of months back, a few of the guys I work with, told me about a night near Hoxton Square called Lazy Gramophone. We went down there and had a totally random night, there was a fashion show, poetry reading, some bizarre keyboard electro solo's and a bald guy with a feather attached to his head. It was a very alternative experience for me, and we laughed a lot and had a great night.

The best act that I saw that night though, was a musical duo called Dan Le Sac Vs. Scroobius Pip. Dan Le sac used an apple mac, to play music backing lyric's by Scroobius Pip. They played about 5 or 6 songs and I was really impressed, really catchy songs. Gary who I work with had read a review, on one of the music sites he subscribes to, and it was the main reason we had gone down there. So I've been checking their myspace page (click here) for where they'd be next playing.

My mate Mikey Smith came with me on a Saturday night to a little club just off Oxford street in central London, called "The Social". I'd read about the night on their website and it sounded pretty good. A radio station I quite like had one of their DJ's, John Kennedy, presenting the evening; billed as: "A bi monthly soiree for the hottest new talent in town"

A took my film camera along with two rolls of film, Fuji Sensia 100, and Ilford Delta 3200, hoping to get a shot of Dan and Mr Pip.

We got a couple of drinks from the bar and were just hanging around catching up, waiting for the music to start. The club is fairly small and is a downstairs basement affair, but seemed to be a pretty neat place, and nice enough people. As we were standing there I looked to my left, and Dan and Scroobius were sitting right there, I went over and shook his hand and said how much I'd enjoyed lazy gramophone, and that I was hoping to take some shots. They were very obliging and the first roll in my film was low light 3200 film, perfect for the conditions in there. I'd actually bought one of their tracks from itunes as well, "Thou shalt always kill" but I didn't mention it, I didn't want to present myself as a stalker.

John Kennedy got up on stage not long after and presented the first act, a lady called "Adele". She was obviously very talented, and had a great voice and played various guitars. I managed to squeeze to the front row, people were really good about letting me get to the front. I suppose it does look I'm press sometimes, the lens and flash do make it look more than just a casual hobby. I tried not to get in people's way, being fairly tall, I didn't want to block everyone else's view of the stage.

The next act was a band from Gravesend, again very talented and fun to listen to, Their name was "Tom Allalone" and they definitely had a lot of confidence and stage presence. I guess that John Kennedy had gone to a lot of effort selecting bands.

The guys gave a great show, and at one point had two other guys were invited to join them on stage and rap about London being a good city or a bad city. It was pretty cool, and Mikey and I were having a great laugh.

They told me that they'd be playing at Glastonbury festival and Bestival this year, and that they were in negotiations with record company's. Scroobius pip explained to me that they had enough music to make an album but wanted to find the right label to release with and really take their time to make sure that the album was spot on.

I've got a feeling that they'll go on to be very successful and I wish them the best of luck; if they do, I doubt that I'll be able to get my camera so close again in the future.

Here's a couple of youtube links that I found on them:

1- Official video on you tube - worth watching.
2- Video from the social in February.