2010 is well and truly going to rock.

NewBlood returned over the Christmas holidays in style. The event is every fortnight on a Thursday that costs £3. On the night refreshments and some band merchandise are available to buy. Doors open at 6:30. The live music for this NewBlood was Maybe Next Time and Crafty Simian.

First in the line-up was the pop/punk band Maybe Next Time, who are based in Darlington, with

Christopher Ward- Lead guitar/Backing vocals (17)

Dave Murphy- Vocals/Rhythm guitar (17)

Dave Hanlin- Bass (16)

Jakub Zagorowski- Drums (16)

Laura- Photography (17)

The band got together in September when both the Dave’s were in the same year and they got Jakub to join too. Chris then said that if the need another guitarist he’d join which Dave (Murphy) said “yeah that’d be so cooool”.

They came up with the name because…Dave (Murphy) liked the sound “ext” so decided to put “time” and “maybe” with it too…

The influences for the band are the likes of Blink 182, Greenday, All Time Low, Metallica and many more.

On stage they preformed the likes of “Outbreak”, “Don’t Let Go” and “This Is The End” alongside a few covers, such as “Goodnight Nurse- My Only”, “Greenday- St Jimmy”, “Plus 44- When Your Heart Stops Beating” and they finished the set with “Blink 182- Dammit”

The crowd responded brilliantly to Maybe Next Time and seemed to really enjoy themselves.

In the near future they are planning on releasing an EP, which is due in late February which also involves them writing new material. There are few more gigs in store too and they want to do a lot more.

So if you’re looking for some fun or maybe organising a gig as long as there’s ice cream (Ben and Jerry’s half baked- of course) and pizza and beer, they’ll be there.

Check them out at:

www.myspace.com/maybenexttimeuk

Or

Search “Maybe Next Time” on Facebook

Crafty Simian came up next, who are also based in Darlington. The band consists of:

Greg- Vocalist/ Dancer

Dean- Bass/ Elfish translator

Phil- Lead guitar

Craig- Guitar

Richard- Drums/ Drives the bus

They formed together about a year ago when they were joined together by a divine light and it was this divine light that made Greg have a dream about the name…

Basically what happened was they found each other online when they were looking to start.

They got their name from quite an interesting story actually. Greg was at the zoo, as you do, and went to go see the monkeys. When he didn’t realise this “crafty simian” came and stole it out of his hand, to which he thought “that was a crafty simian”.

Crafty Simian classes themselves as an Indie Rock/Punk band and are influences by the likes of Oasis, Sonic Youth and The Beatles. Oh and of course they have a love for SuBo and Jedward.

Whilst on stage the crowd responded immensely by dancing around and cheering them on as “Liar”, “Burning”, “Dirty Girls” and “Jenny” were played. The set was closed with “Losing Game”. It is safe to say their performance was enjoyable and fun to watch.

After being featured in NME magazine they are trying to get signed and get a lot more gigs all over. They also want to launch a campaign for the return of Ed the duck.

For more information go to:

www.myspace.com/craftysimian

Or

Search “Crafty Simian” on Facebook

Or

Follow their twitter (which has over 1000 followers)

@craftysimian

Or

www.craftysimian.com

By Emily O’Hara