Liverpool, 9th Oct 2006.

Tell me why I don’t like Mondays? Ahh the clichés are in fact true… I’m on my way home to North Wales at 6pm, when I get a call asking if I fancy going back to Liverpool for 9pm to check out this happening new act called Soho Dolls.

So three hours later and I find myself back in the heart of the city being told that tonight was a club night and that the band were part of it and would be on around 11:30pm - oh happy fuckin’ days!

Things are made easier by the fact I’m joined by Tony ‘No Photo Pass, No fuckin’ Show’ Porter and a couple of buddies, Chris and Paul, who it seems actually bought tickets for tonight after seeing the Dolls open up for She Wants Revenge. So we sit, we drink, we chat, look at fit women (it’s the ‘Freshers’ season, holy universities Batboy!).

Eventually lights dim and Zil take to the stage, and their ‘Franz meets Synths’ style really hits the spot. Opening tunes Desire and Same Thing show some serious potential; if these songs get on the radio the boys will be on the front of NME hailed as ‘the next best thing ever since the last best thing ever last week’ (that really was not the best nor really that good).

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They lose points mid-set by trying to be too clever, but redeem themselves with a storming closing run that included future favourite Us Or Them and a rousing cover of Adam & The Ants (yes, you read that right) Zerox Machine. Keep your eyes peeled for this bunch as I got the feeling they will blow up at some point this year (not into little pieces, but into big stars).

We have the hum drum break of ‘indie faves’ from the dj (sing along now children, ohh just fuck off!), then without a by or leave, hello or welcome Soho Dolls appear before my naked steaming eyes, with the handsome female vocalist springing onto the stage from out of the audience at the front! Just two songs in (Week and Trash) and they are my new favourite band; they have a drummer who plays and sounds like a machine (think Echo & the Bunnymen meets Nine Inch Nails) a keyboard player that is a female Nick Rhoades (Duran Duran indeed). The bassist looks like he loves to shout at the devil (Nikki Sixx from Da’ Crue gone emo!), and a guitarist who is like the bastard son of Andy McCoy (Hanoi Rocks every morning!). Then to top it all we get a female singer that just oozes ‘Sex’ from every pore, and when she catches you with straight eye contact, well, when I say I’m in LUV! You best believe…

This is ‘Electro Glam’ gone haywire; you can rock to it, roll with it, dance to it, clap your hands a little bit louder! They play a song they never have before! But it seems a little too slow for them, but they end a nine- song set with Stripper which is one of the best singles of 2006 and sure to be setting alternative club floors on fire as we speak.

So if you are looking for the missing link between Motley Crue and Goldfrapp, ladies and gentlemen, we give you Soho Dolls - catch them now before they explode!

Jj. 2006