Club 85, Hitchin - Metal Night

Last Saturday night, (23rd Jan) I thought it was time to venture into Hitchin and visit Club 85 on Whinbush Road where it was Metal night. Billed as the North Herts Independent Music Venue Club 85 offers different live music acts every weekend catering for all musical genres.

Armed with camera and beer money we all arrived with the intention of checking out the three bands booked to play and have a couple of sneaky drinks!

Once we'd found somewhere to park and arranged for my husband (a wheelchair user) to gain access via the ramp at the back of the building we had missed the first band. Undeterred we finally settled ourselves in for an evening of entertainment, suitably furnished with a bottle of beer and a vodka and coke respectively.

The first band to greet our arrival was Glass Artery. This male fronted metal band was, to us, a contradiction of sounds; loud screaming vocals mixed with subtle and soft harmonies. Whilst waiting at the bar I found myself starting to tap my foot whilst the bands more avid fans were head banging at the front of the stage. If you were to find yourself in a mosh pit situation in front of this band you would undoubtedly start to react to the music as it was powerful as well as melodic at the same time.

Each band only performed for approximately 45 minutes so just as you were starting to enjoy their performance and get to grips with their style they were off stage and the next band was setting up its rig.

The final band of the evening was Self Inflicted. This band has a female vocalist, Heidi, who has to be the bendiest singer on the circuit. Self Inflicted have managed to combine metal, death metal and a theatrical style courtesy of Heidi's unusual dancing and audience interaction that makes their act compulsive viewing / listening.

The quote of the evening from one of our group was ...'it was compulsive viewing for all the wrong reasons.' Heidi and her band have a legion of fans that are predominantly male but take away the dancing and the theatrical style still you have a talented vocalist that knows how to work her audience.

The club itself was smaller than we expected; the phrase one would use is 'intimate' and occasionally the sound was slightly off and we had a couple of moments were the speakers would squeal at us, which forced us to stop drinking and cover our ears. In the clubs defence though 'metal' has to be the hardest type of music for a sound system to cater for with its aggressive, screaming style.

The owner/proprietor Bob was extremely helpful when we asked for assistance in getting my husband into the building via the ramp and took it upon himself personally to assist with this. Nice one Bob, we will definitely be back to avail ourselves of your facilities.

Word to the wise though, if you are planning to arrive by car give yourself plenty of time prior to the gig as Club 85 is situated in a residential area and the club parking facilities tend to be taken up by support vehicles for the performers. Secondly, for all the girlies out their make sure that you have the appropriate underwear on as the club has UV light everywhere and we have all been there with the white fluorescing bra under the dark top!