Month: July 2026

Review: Mouth Ulcers and David Mudra at Paper Dress Vintage, Hackney [29 July 2026]

On By markosgigarchiveIn gig reviewLeave a comment

So a new venue for me, Paper Dress Vintage in Hackney.  Basically it’s a room above a clothing shop that holds 110 people, and this is their 8th gig and their first ever headlining sold out show!  Picked a great night for it too as it was one of the hottest of the year so far – phew!!!  I was fortunate to have had a chat and photos with the band in the Oslo pub across the street prior to the gig and they came over as very grounded individuals with a vision – a lovely bunch of youngsters following their passion and finding a niche for themselves in their chosen genre of music.

I thought my mates and I would be the oldest people there by a country mile and it would be full of twenty somethings, but I couldn’t have been more wrong as the vast majority of the sellout show were definitely pushing 50+!

I discovered them via their support act David Mudra on Instagram (which is fast becoming my go to place to search for new talent).  Only formed in 2025 this young band have come a long way in a short time with their colours firmly nailed to the goth/post punk sound. Given their limited song catalogue (their 7 track EP ‘Silent Pictures’ was only released on 10th July) I wasn’t expecting a long set, and I reckon it was about 45 minutes – but boy was it good. Ethereal intertwining guitar interplay, creating an atmospheric and cavernous sound built on melodic throbbing metronomic basslines and rhythmic haunting drum beats.

The Mouth Ulcers are:

  • Zak Watson (vocals/guitar)
  • Josephine Rose (guitar/vocals)
  • Jamie-Lee Culver (bass)
  • David Zbirka (drums)

Obviously the band were dressed all in de-rigueur black, with only Jamie-Lee breaking rank with red cowboy boots, and messy black eye makeup and hair – so you may as well look like you sound.  Zak has a bit of the Pete Murphy vocal sound about him which is no bad thing, however the subdued vocal mix tonight didn’t do him any favours at all – the usual ghostly spoken lyrics barely audible.  It’s a tiny stage so all 4 were basically stuck in position all night, so I can’t tell if they have any specific moves etc. that single them out for crowd attention.  Obviously Zak being the main focal point is still at the very beginning of developing his stage presence and I look forward to watching his development.

They played the entire EP tonight interspersed with new songs.  I always tend to think that the 1st LP any band releases is them at their best, and the new songs sound every bit as good.  Young they might be but I didn’t see many nerves tonight, it was a very solid confident performance.  Practice makes perfect and they more you practice the better and tighter you become as a band.

Set list (Click on the link to view the YouTube videos)

  1. A Cure For The Diseased
  2. Prevail
  3. You’re Not In Heaven
  4. Western Horror Story
  5. Space
  6. Satisfy
  7. Silent Pictures
  8. The Devil’s Mad
  9. Flames
  10. Stuck In Your Head
  11. A Perfect End
  12. Closer To You

‘Prevail’ is very Robert Smith at his Cure best.  In fact it’s actually quite difficult to pick out my preferred tracks as tonight every song was pretty damn good – I enjoyed the entire show.  They have created a stark brutal minimalist soundscape (wonder if they live in or near The Barbican?) and have put their own hand crafted stamp on modern goth with more than a nod to their 80s predecessors. 

Fresh, thrashy and ghostly – I hope they have a long and colourful (make that monochrome 🖤 😊) career.

A couple of things to finish off with, I think they need a definitive stand out band logo (one that defines the band), a signature intro tune that is played at every gig before they come on stage and once they are in bigger venues lighting needs to be worked on to showcase their dark side.  Also £12 a ticket is ridiculously cheap – they could easily have charged £25 tonight without batting an eyelid!

David Mudra

This German certainly has the looks, hair, style, attitude and some bloody good tunes to match.  Tonight it’s just his guitar and a drummer playing his “Music for Outcasts” but actually it’s pretty accessible new wave goth-pop.  The pair put on a pretty polished performance and the songs speak for themselves, finely crafted tunes with sparse guitar hooks and pounding drums.  It’s the perfect opener for the Mouth Ulcers – they could have been hatched from the same egg 😊.

So David is a bit of a Mike Oldfield in that he does everything himself – playing, writing, mixing etc. mainly on the web but now he is finally doing some live shows (probably a better revenue stream for the future). Hope he finds a wider audience for his talents. Highly recommended if you can catch him live.

Some live songs from my YouTube site for you to get a flavour for the man:
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8
Stranger
Emergency

Marko [30 July 2026]

George Thorogood & the Destroyers at Indigo O2 – 30 June 2026

REVIEW: George Thorogood & the Destroyers at Indigo O2 – 30 June 2026

On By markosgigarchiveIn gig reviewLeave a comment

Tonight’s set opens with a heads down no nonsense boogie of ‘Rock Party’ which basically sets the template for the evenings rumbustiousness (think I just invented a word).  Funnily enough, more than half the set is given over to covers, which is a shame coz George has got a lot of great songs in his songwriting cannon. But I guess that’s being a bit picky as the band really do the songs justice. The pounding beat of Bo Diddley’s ‘Who Do You Love?’ gives George all the room he wants to flick through the riffs of some proper blues rocking.

Now George is currently 76 and the band has been going since 1973 with only Jeff Simon having been there for the whole journey from Delaware.  So given 53 years odd of experience George certainly knows how to handle and milk the crowd.  The band are still going strong and giving it their all.  He strikes some great poses mixed with a bit of cheeky sexual innuendo and constantly contorts his face mouth open pursing the notes from his body.  He is kind of sleazy and cool at the same time – very charming.   He has terrific stage presence and a great line of between song banter too, totally engaging, humorous and it really adds to the shows completeness.  As he says “tonight we are gonna play two kinds of music, we are gonna play some Rock and we are gonna play some Roll”😊).

The Band

  • George Thorogood, lead guitar
  • Jeff Simon, Drums
  • Bill Blough, bass
  • Jim Suhler, guitars
  • Buddy Leach, Sax

As you might expect the band are as tight as a ducks arse.  All excellent musicians that have been with George for well over 25 years.  Now we can plainly see that George is having a blast out there and the rest of the band are in full swing, only Bill looks a bit miserable (I know he’s not inside) but I think that’s just the shape of his face?  His reliable ensemble fire away on all cylinders and get chances to show off their craft regularly – especially Buddy and Jim.  Jeff and Bill just hold the tight backbeat constantly and let the others get on with it.

The stage is totally empty, speaker stacks covered in fabric and 6 sets of lighting rigs at the back surrounding the drums.  Some songs are basic with repetitive riffs but that just add to the basic spirit and succulence of what’s on offer. It’s the first time I’ve seen George since he supported the Stones in Leeds in 1982 (and I remember nothing of that!!) so I’m not sure if it’s a bit rough or a roughly polished performance.  Once thing is for sure I had a smile on my face all night, which basically means it was a top evening’s entertainment.

His deep-voiced singing is perfect for some of the blues covers and his fingers tease notes out of the guitar. Oh yeah baby!, this is how to do it.  Not surprisingly, almost every song is longer, grittier and more explosive than its studio version – just as it should be played live.  Songs were extended with George making funny asides, stretching out a guitar solos, or with the whole band just jamming.  He quotes is early influence of the Stones as life affirming “that Mick Richards and Keith Jagger” 😊, they clearly had a lifelong effect on him!

‘I Drink Alone’ and ‘One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer’ explode into life and really get the audience engaged.  There is ad-libbing a plenty and audience singing all the names of the liquors in unison (you gotta love songs about booze 😊). 

Set List – (Click on links to watch the YouTube videos)

  1. Rock Party – (The Hard Stuff, 2006)
  2. Who Do You Love? – (Move It On Over, 1978)
  3. Mama Talk to Your Daughter – (2120 South Michigan Ave., 2011)
  4. I Drink Alone – (Maverick, 1985)
  5. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer – (George Thorogood and the Destroyers, 1977)
  6. Cocaine Blues – (Move It On Over, 1978)
  7. Gear Jammer – (Maverick, 1985)
  8. Get a Haircut – (Haircut, 1993)
  9. Madison Blues – (George Thorogood and the Destroyers, 1977)
  10. Bad to the Bone – (Bad to the Bone, 1982)
  11. Gloria – (Them cover)
  12. Move It on Over – (Move It On Over, 1978)

Encore:

  1. Born to Be Bad – (Born to Be Bad, 1988)

‘Cocaine Blues’ is dedicated to Johnny Cash and June Carter-Cash “I met them once, he thought I was cool” he muses and the band launch into it no holes barred like an unstoppable steam train.  He goes off kilter and adds an unexpected some to the list tonight when whilst engaging with the audience someone cries out for ‘Madison Blues’ and the band duly oblige.

The band nip off stage for a short while before coming back for the only encore the barnstorming bad ass anthem ‘Born to be Bad’.  Jared James Nichols joins the band on stage for this one and George resplendent in his Keef Richards t-shirt just sings.  And then it’s all over.

It was a near relentless energising evening leaving me exceedingly happy that I’d made the effort to see a band that still remembers it’s RnR blues roots and spews energy into entertaining the audience, and having a damn good time.  My Highlights were ‘Rock Party’, ‘One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer’, ‘Cocaine Blues’, ‘Get a Haircut’ and ‘Born to be Bad’.   So if you want a good vibe night out be sure to catch these dudes in action while you can.

Support Band – Jared James Nichols

The support band were Jared James Nichols a trio from the States.  They were pretty damn good to be honest and Jared can sure play guitar, finger picking all the solos and riffs with ease.

Set List – Jared James Nichols

  1. Let’s Go
  2. Ghost
  3. Way Back
  4. Killing Time
  5. Baby Can You Feel It?
  6. Runnin’ Hot
  7. Keep Your Light on Mama

Marko [1 July 2026]