Issue 158

Live Music Review: Thom Earle

22nd October 2007

Hailing from Southampton, Reading and London being comprised of Gerry vocals/guitar, Rich Guitar, Neil guitar, John bass and Alexei drums. Have often been compared to Gogol Bordello and their Gypsy Punk sound, but to me this comparison doesn't really way up. To me they have echoes of Ghost Town era Specials, with a bit of a surf vibe to their music and with just a twist of English eccentricism thrown in.

As it reaches 12:30 the club NME room of Face Off finally starts to fill up & by the time Six Nation State had hit the stage with their clearly labelled instruments there was already a nice cosy atmosphere brewing. Though tonight Six Nation State where without their bassist John, the result of a foot injury that required surgery after putting his bare foot through a wine glass at a previous gig. John's stand in Ben (from the Winchester band Loose Caboose) performed well not making any notable slip ups.

As the show kicked off the crowd seemed to become energised by the bands enthusiastic performance. Towards the end of the gig the crowd where so whipped up that even an attempt at crowd-surfing was seen. The only criticism of the gig is that they did not play a long enough set, though this was excusable as they did not have a full line up.

All in all it was a fun night with a good time band. The stand out tracks of the night where The Specials-esque 'Everybody Wants To Be My Friend' & the recent single 'We Could Be Happy' both of these from their self titled debut album on Jeepster records.

Waterfront Online