Edgy punk from the Dock's finest (From Western Telegraph)

Edgy punk from the Dock's finest

The Queens Hall, Narberth was the venue for four hot bands on Friday, July 11th. This was a hot night of music in more ways than one, as some of the boys took their tops off. Things could have got steamy, but we acted with restraint.

First up, the gutsy pull of Nikolai's raunchy, but engaging and intelligent melodic rock had me smitten. Well versed in what makes music addictive, they gave us good tunes, hooks and dazzling originality with a batch of well crafted songs, sounding tight and exciting. Nikolai were hard to beat for sheer hair-shaking fundamentalism; the guys were cooking on gas tonight and sounded knockdown brilliant.

Betamax pushed things forward with their heavier guitar-based, sometimes Interpol sounding, strenuous music style. Paul's wonderfully bleak voice hinted at the band's as yet unfathomed depths and danger just beneath the surface. And of course guitar maestro Joel's arresting and articulate solos provided the impressive spiralling grooves, harking back to an era when a riff could make a man a hero.

The hotly tipped, The Hot Puppies, combined a kitsch image with new wave harmonies to give us their very individual style of highly angular art synth pop that rattled through punk moments, Bowiesque and Blondie manoeuvres, together with large dollops of The Cramps and B52s. All this sprinkled with frothy teen attitude and spark. Delicious stuff.

Becky's pout and black PVC gloved punch, was a triumph for post feminism. The band's short, zippy, twitchy songs were terrifically jerky and quirky, and on the wonderful The Drowsing Nymph, Becky's breathy vocals and lascivious yelps were pure Karen O.

Tonight however, was mainly about the Dock's finest, Dogzuki. This deservedly talented band have raised their game with their well-honed musically precise thoughtful songs and a new depth of lyricism, all driven along by their own brand of edgy punk. Dogzuki are fronted by a coiled spring of energy, with just the hint of vulnerability that we girls love, in the shape of the gorgeous Ger.

Included in their sensational set, was their new single, Dead Again (Remote 003) and its B-side Head In The Shed, two utterly compelling and addictively cathartic songs wrapped up in phased guitar (presented on the Remove record label). Deeply moving and inspiring. Tonight's excellent performance shows that everything has now slotted into a position for Dogzuki to be on the cusp of hugeness. So let's push them into the charts.

Pictured is Beth of The Hot Puppies. Picture: Chris Rees.