Camden Gets Its Indie Back

By london_luke Last edited 229 months ago
Camden Gets Its Indie Back
Indie kid wails away

While some would say that Camden never lost the indie rock vibe, it would be hard to deny that the goth kids and the nu-metal tweenies (yes, you there with the Staind shirt) have run rampant there for the last couple of years, and that the chances of spotting your favourite band member lurching past in the Good Mixer had been hitting rock bottom for ages.

We at Londonist are therefore chuffed by the recent resurgence in the indie scene around Camden, corresponding nicely to the nationwide move away from the dance scene and back to the welcoming embrace of distortion-laden garage rock. What with the rise of indie club nights (such as FROG and Death Disco) all over our fair city, it's only right and proper that all eyes now turn back to the home of proper indie gigs: NW1.

Between the previously reported Queens of the Stone Age "club gigs" in the Underworld and Koko, and the strongest Camden Crawl lineup in ages (80s Matchbox, Departure, Magic Numbers, Go-Team and Hard-Fi on one bill!), all within the first couple weeks of March, you'd be hard pressed to find anywhere boasting so much indie cred in the Big Smoke. Yeah, yeah, we know QOTSA stretch the definition of "indie" to the breaking point, but we like them, and you should too. And if you get the chance to see Hard-Fi, take it. We saw them in Barfly the other day, and they are definitely going places.

It's not just the one-offs, either: just take a look at some of the acts appearing in the next couple months around Camden:

  • Bloc Party (Feb 16th, Barfly)
  • The Concretes (Feb 18th, Koko)
  • Willy Mason + Magic Numbers (Feb 24th, Barfly)
  • The Bravery (Mar 1st-2nd, Koko)
  • QOTSA (Mar 3rd, Underworld / Koko)
  • Camden Crawl (Mar 10th, various venues)
  • Lemon Jelly (Mar 12th, Forum)

And that's just the ones we can think of offhand - there are also countless lower-profile gigs in spots like the Dublin Castle where you can catch one of the next New Hot Things in their infancy (insert breathless NME hyperbole here). Surely that's worth braving Cowboy Tramp yelling obscenities at you outside the tube stop, right?

Last Updated 01 February 2005