It was acoustic night at The Wanch. Three acts and no cover.
I love the decorations at The Wanch, especially the decidedly inappropriate Christopher Lee as the Asian villain in Hammer's 1961 schlock classic Terror Of The Tongs...
First up was Cougar Bait. The band did a set of rousing covers including "Just Like Heaven" by The Cure, "Mr. Brightside" by The Killers, and "Bad" by U2 (see the video below).
"Bad" by U2 as covered by Cougar Bait...
I liked the sound of Cougar Bait. They managed to do covers with traces of their own personality. Rather than render note-for-note covers like most of the bands in Wan Chai clubs, they did a little something different.
And their taste in tunes was quite good; their rollicking take on Crowded House's "Weather With You" was a bit like Hothouse Flowers. They managed to add a lot of energy to the classic tune. Respectful of the original, but more energetic somehow.
Good stuff!
Follow the band on their website here:
http://www.mycougarbait.com/Cougar_Bait/Home.html
Next up was Yanyan Pang and her brand of folk rock.
Then Aileen Alonzo closed out the evening with a set of original tunes (plus one cover). "Car Crash" was particularly bracing.
Aileen Alonzo managed to prove how much can be done with just a set of strong tunes and an acoustic guitar. Not really folkie, her style is somewhere closer to indie that just so happens to lend itself to an acoustic performance. A song like "Alice" recalled late period Siouxsie and the Banshees in a very general way; think something off the Peepshow album only with more of an immediate pop sense.
