© The Breakfast Club (picture from Facebook)

Despite not really being in the mood to go into town due to an unexplained low mood, I forced myself out to the Jam Café last night. I haven’t been to a gig for ages due to either work commitments, deadlines, or depression so it is high time I started again having hopefully given the other so-called champions of the Nottingham music scene a chance to catch up with me, although they weren’t at Jam Café I am sure they were practicing what they preach and were at one of Nottingham’s other venues.

There was a lineup of four bands last night but only one that really grabbed my interest, their last scheduled appearance at the same venue was the one I alluded to a couple of weeks ago that didn’t happen. Although I had heard the name and several songs from The Breakfast Club, it wasn’t until last year’s Hockley Hustle that on Adam Clarkson’s (Captain Dangerous) recommendation I caught them live. If I had to describe the band I would struggle a little to sell them to someone who had never heard of them; they mess around and appear to be having a laugh while performing funny songs but there’s more to them than merely tagging them as a comedy act because that might give people the wrong idea from the start and take away from their ability. Musically they are as good as any of the bands on the circuit, better in some cases, reminiscent (although I hate having to make lazy journalist comparisons) of Barenaked Ladies.

Opening the night was a band called Same Streets, a band of some note around these parts. If I have to be brutally honest (something I am known for after all) they didn’t really do it for me but they are a talented enough group of young lads with a good following. Some of the following were a bit boisterous but meant no harm I suppose; you could blame it on youthful exuberance although I don’t remember being such a twat at that age. Thankfully they all rather predictably vanished as soon as their friends had finished, and although this is something I usually disapprove of, on this occasion I made an exception. It's a pity I feel this way really, as I was blown away when I saw James Gooch playing solo a while back at The Maze.

Jam Café has long been a favourite venue of mine despite the tendency for overcrowding, but last night I began to lose patience with being pushed and shoved and seemingly being in the way wherever I stood. I had been talking to Gary for a while and he was getting annoyed with it too, so I decided to leave earlier than I would normally have done. Stavros were on next, again I didn’t really warm to them although it might have had something to do with my irritation by that point which made me decide to go home early and miss a set from Royston Duxford – a band I am a fan of but have seen before. It dawned on me that there were fewer regular faces from the Nottingham music scene in attendance and on the way home I wondered if this might have something to do with the difference in atmosphere.

To return to The Breakfast Club, they were the only band I had wanted to see due to a slight change in personnel since the last time I saw them in the shape of a drummer to complete the sound. The band engaged well with the crowd, a crowd that knew the words to all the songs, especially the brilliant recent release ‘Tram Conductor’ featuring an appearance from the woman who played the starring role in the video. They were (in my opinion at least) the highlight of the night and should really have been headlining, something I am sure they will get used to as 2015 rolls on.

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This week’s edition of The Sunday Alternative is here.