Media Review - Man Raze London Camden Barfly By Neil Jeffries

A Leppard, a Pistol, and a Girl - and a much-delayed side-project debut.

Alongside Def Leppard guitarist Phil Collen and former Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook, Collen's former Girl bandmate Simon Laffy (bass) may be far less of a household name, but there's something special about watching such veterans having a blast in an intimate venue front of just 200 people.

Mooching on stage in all black they have their moody entrance blown by the party-hat girls at the front who know tonight is the guitarist's birthday and so sing to him. Collen grins then launches into This Is, which is quickly followed by Connected To You and Spinning Out; no dicking around changing guitars or rapping between numbers.

Despite its spiky pretensions, their debut Surreal is polished, so the raw sound in this tiny room is a shock. Collen (who keeps his shirt on for all of two numbers) seems unsure of the reaction and explains that on album "we can cheat a bit". But he needn't worry. Although his guitar is a little low in the mix, except when he stomps on a pedal to solo, that only highlights the quality of the melodies the band serve up.

Laffy plays his five-string bass to great effect, while Cook - a drummer and a half - concentrates like a bastard. His immaculate side-parting makes him look like the Blues Band's Paul Jones; his grin and rock-solid effectiveness is pure Charlie Watts, particularly on the dub-tastic Runnin' Me Up.

The 11 songs raided from the album are played faster on stage, so they've done less than 50 minutes when they end with the non-album song You're So Wrong and run it into The Stooges' Search And Destroy. As is turns out, they have rehearsed one more: Jimi Hendrix's Fire. Which is fitting: another three-piece not afraid to push the envelope.

By Neil Jeffries @ Classic Rock 2008.