As I promised - the review of the Vent show(s): (albeit a month later :/) As I said earlier, "Vent" played in my area three times during the first week of Sept. On the 6th, they played at Rebar (Sept 6) as part of the College Music Journal Expo. This is were unsigned bands are showcased with a bunch of other lesser-known signed bands that labels are trying to push. This is a huge event at the end of every summer, which features over 200 bands in 30 different venues. "Vent" played The Limelight (Sept 7) when they opened for "Machines of Loving Grace" Sadly I missed this one. But then again on Sept 9 they played in the house that Bruce built: The Stone Pony in Asbury Park, NJ. This is the show that I'll review because, it was exactly the same set-list and I thought it was the better of the two shows that I saw, both in terms of the crowd and the sound.

I was already warned that their sound was much heavier than the catchy pop that I was accustomed to with "The Wonder Stuff" as per an earlier conversation with Milo's brother Russ who described it as "a little like the "Rollins Band", but with better lyrics." So I really wasn't too surprised when the set was comprised of mostly hard, angry punk songs. Hence their name I guess! Their set was short, but that was expected of a band who don't even have their debut out yet, nor did they do cover material like some other newly-formed band I know (i.e., "WKWYL) The show was everything I hoped it would be: high-energy rock-n-roll, great songs, great guitar, catchy bass, and solid drumming. One thing it lacked though was the bitter sarcasm or witty dialogue from Mr. Hunt that was a staple of most "Wonder Stuff" shows I saw. The catchiest of these new songs was one called "Fixer", (see my photo of the set list on Curtis' "Vent" page.) which was rumored to be their first single.

After both shows I was able to talk at length with the band and rather than trying to remember everything everyone said and transcribing it in interview form, I'll tell you about some of the highlights:

I talked to Pete a little about when I saw the very last "EAT" show last July in Camden Town, and what he'd been up to since. He said he was laying low for a while and relaxing when he got together with Miles to form "Vent". I asked about when the band was going into the studio and Morgan, easily the most talkative of the four, piped in: "We had about two weeks set aside to go into the studio before we started playing a couple of shows and festivals, and when Billy joined the band, we had to spend those two weeks teaching him the songs!" Billy later said how eager he was to get back home and start writing together as a band for the first time, and Morgan added, "Yeah, I think the four of us have something here, and it's exciting, and when we go in the studio, I think you'll feel that energy on the record." When I handed the set list to Miles for him to sign, I asked if he had any message for all his friends on the "Wonder Stuff" mailing list, he replied "Right there" and he pointed to his signature on the page, which read only "Miles" So there you have it: they are more than likely back in London now, writing and recording wongs and hopefully by early next year, we'll have an album or in the very least a new single!