Every now and again you pick up the NME, check the gig listings, smash open the dusty piggy bank on the coffee table and head out to watch the next big thing sweating it out on the pub circuit. So I was surprised to say the least to find myself, on the penultimate shopping day of the year, stood in Camden’s legendary Barfly Club watching Rotating Leslie.

From what I can gather they are an unsigned Hertford based band, so quite what their doing swaggering around the Barfly stage like EMI’s latest offering, I don’t know……..but they are!! The guitarists play off each other like a modern day Keith and Ronnie, with duelling guitars a plenty. Their style sits somewhere between the new breed of post punkers, a la Razorlight, and a grandiose dose of anthemic Snow Patrol crowd pleasers. And please the crowd they do. Close to capacity, it seems like I’m the only person, besides the lonely Lemmy Look-alike in the corner, who isn’t screaming the lyrics back at them. As the sweat flows over the ‘oh so skinny’ t’s and shaggy rock fro’s, the gig is over.

With tunes like ‘Just a Game’ ‘No Requests’ and crowd favourite ‘Forty Thieves’ it’s easy to see this band sticking in your head for long after the gig, and with a flurry of shows already lined up for 2005, I’d advise checking this band out soon.

Review by Graham Sands

Related Links:

www.rotatingleslie.co.uk