Wednesday nights @ Zebra Bar Maidstone

NEW LIVE VENUE OPENS IN MAIDSTONE

SOUNDS @ Zebra opening night review

Halfway through The Rash's second song, Sam, their guitarist leapt from the stage and thrashed out power chords as he performed an ecstatic shaman-like dance, much to the delight of everyone at the opening night of SOUNDS @ Zebra. Don't let Sam's poster-boy good looks fool you into thinking he should be singing syrupy ballads with a boy band – he plays fast, ugly, finger-burning guitar and knows how to move.

Sam had been moving to the Lettabees earlier in the evening. The Lettabees hail from Folkestone and play wall-of-sound indie-rock. The make a lot of noise for just three guys, belting out tight guitar-biased music, with a nod towards 60's blues, that reverberated around the plush surroundings of the Zebra Bar in King Street. There aren't many places in Maidstone that are so suited to putting on gigs as the Zebra Bar, where you get such good acoustics and where the bands can really perform at their best.

The Rash certainly pulled out the stops, what with Sam and his frenetic guitar and dance steps, and Ben, their charismatic lead singer. Ben's a cross between Johnny Rotten and Mike Skinner and reckons he's a bit of a Chav, which he might well be, but he knows how to get a crowd going. The Rash play pure Punk with a dash of Pop, and sing songs with titles like "Your Mother is a Prostitute". Your Granny would love them…'cos she was probably pogo-ing down the front at The Roxy back in 1976.

The final band of the night, Average Contents played an eclectic mix of their own songs and covers of bands ranging from Feeder to Thin Lizzy. They've just released their second EP which can be ordered via their myspace site.

There's hardly a been a better time for live music, especially in Maidstone. This has been recognised by Radio 1, who've chosen Mote Park to hold their annual music festival in May. Now, in the Zebra Bar, Maidstone has a venue of which it can be proud.

SOUNDS @ Zebra is open every Wednesday from 7.30pm, with the first band playing at 8.00pm.

For more information visit http://www.myspace.com/soundsatzebra

Review written by Phil Elliott.

Ohh, that's awesome! Yay for Sounds @ Zebra!

he seemed to take a liking to sam

he wants sam's babies