A good demo should be multi-faceted, leave you with (at the very least) a feeling of intrigue, and if it’s really, really good, make you think ‘I have to see this band’. The last time that happened to me was with luxembourg’s epiphanic ‘Tourist Information’ EP, and that was over a year ago. Enter the very wonderful London 3-piece The Bridge Gang, comprising José Ross (guitar/vox/huge hair), Lucy Drynan (obligatory female bass/vox) and Bret Bolton (drums/wearing hats).
I’ve previously extolled the virtues of Sarah’s Brother and Pangs Of Guilt (released by Dogbox as a free download single here). The former is an addictively jaunty, but grim-themed little number about a ‘six year old victim of the National Front’; the latter a romping Frank Black and the Modern Lovers.
Added to these gems are London Sky Tonight, a gloriously thumping Strokes-ian toe-tapper (‘the devil finds use for static minds, he’s found some good work for me’), and The Gallery; opening with angular guitar and militaristic drumbeats, it soon transforms into an anguished, punky jackhammer of a song.
Listening to these infectious, angsty ditties is like discovering cordon bleu cuisine after a diet of turkey twizzlers and gruel. This disk will need to be forcibly prised from my CD player.