The haircut kids on the indie rock underground

The Helster and I are back from a weekend in Cambridge, where we saw the Broken Family Band play a ridiculously intimate gig at the very friendly Portland Arms. The 'gig room' is a very small annexe of the pub which would make the Basement at Rock City seem like Wembley Stadium.  Support was from John Smith, who rose above his nondescript nomenclature to woo us with some John Martyn / Tim Buckley-esque acoustic stylings, including a cracking cover of No One Knows by Queens Of The Stone Age.

Anyway, the BFB's were bloody fantastic - plenty of new tracks from the as yet unrecorded new record, and the proximity of band and audience made it feel as the we were in their front room being treated to a few new tunes.  And I think it was a first for me to attend a gig where the lead guitarist left the stage for a pee, returned with beers for his colleagues, in time to join in with a solo at just the right beat.  Go and see them!