I escaped the internet last night and went out into the real world to see some live music: Indiestore's Club Fandango at the Dublin Castle. This place is a bit of a mecca for new bands, but don't let the signed Madness and Travis posters on the walls put you off.
Writing about digital content can be so consuming that I sometimes wonder if I've forgotten what that "content" actually is. In this case, it is three new bands promoting and selling their music online through 7digital's Indiestore, but in the flesh this stuff is far more exciting.
Someone's Mum and Dad were floating around in the crowd, earplugs stuffed in their ears, and 7digital's managing director Ben Drury was head-bobbing at the back near the bar. He told me he used to play guitar in a band, back in the heady days of 90s Britpop, but it did make me wonder how many senior iTunes execs make it out to see unsigned bands. Radio 1's Steve Lamacq was (allegedly) lurking around too, so there was clearly something worth checking out.
I really did rate Model Horror - five young chaps from Letchworth in multicoloured anoraks. Maybe it was just the rainwear, but I could imagine them going down very well at Glastonbury. The Synth Player told me they were supposed to play at the unsigned bands tent but had to pull out of a load of gigs because their drummer was going to Uni, or something. Just whippersnappers, really. You can see them on MySpace, and technically buy them on Indiestore, although I don't think anyone's got around to setting that up properly yet.
Young Love also played, and I think they were over from New York. Quite pleasing, but I'm backing the lads from Letchworth.
Model Horror in their full glory on MySpace
